By Robert Booth
Publication Date: 2025-12-17 18:02:00
When the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump’s state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed.
Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald “a new industrial revolution”, announced billions of pounds in AI investments and, like Willy Wonka handing out golden tickets, singled out some lucky recipients in the room.
“If you want to get rich, this is where you want to be,” he declared.
But his biggest party trick was a surprise guest waiting in the wings. At Huang’s cue, the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, walked out as the crowd whooped at Huang’s pulling power.
Starmer, looking slightly dazed, saluted his host’s “absolutely phenomenal” presentation, told the audience about how he had been “texting away” with Huang and effusively thanked one of the world’s richest men for his “confidence in what we are doing, in your investment, your foresight”. Huang sent him away with a gift: an inscribed AI processing unit.
Not done, Huang called on to the stage Liz Kendall, the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, followed by Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for business. The parade of British cabinet ministers at this private Nvidia event…
