Why US tech firms are circling Wales for AI investment
With land, connectivity and an enabling regulatory ecosystem, Wales is now on the radar of AI investors, writes Phil Pugh
Land, talent and investment: Why Wales is on big tech’s radar
If you’re scanning the UK for future growth hubs and still stop at the M25, you’re missing half the picture. Wales is rapidly becoming a major inward investment opportunity.
A few big numbers tell a clear story: Wales attracted £4.6bn of global inward investment last year, with its 65 FDI projects representing a 23 per cent year-on-year rise – the second-highest growth in the UK. Those investments created nearly 2,500 new jobs and safeguarded a further 1,600, outpacing other regions.
This week marks the beginning of Wales Week London. A series of events will showcase the nation’s ancient cultural heritage but also signpost why Britain’s bets for creating a modern, fast-growing economy are placed here. Whether it’s AI, life sciences or green energy, Wales holds the chips.
US firm Vantage, for example, plans to convert the former Ford Bridgend Engine Plant into a world-scale data centre campus to go with the one it’s building in Texas, while Microsoft is behind the development of another proposed scheme in Newport. Both sites fall within two of the UK’s five AI growth zones.
Data infrastructure that will power the rollout of AI across our economy is no longer tethered to London’s grid bottlenecks alone. Global operators are waking up to the fact that Wales has land, connectivity and an enabling regulatory ecosystem.
And let’s talk innovators: from fintech and advanced manufacturing to aerospace and defence clusters across Cardiff, Newport and North Wales, the pipeline of start-ups and scale-ups is expanding fast – with support from world-class university research and dedicated innovation hubs.
Hundreds of Welsh life sciences companies are working at the forefront of the human condition, developing solutions in regenerative medicine, cell therapy, medtech and wound therapy.
In a market where certainty is prized and options are narrowing, Wales combines space, talent and economic substance. In short, it’s at the vanguard of everything we want from our economy.
Business *and* pleasure
The 870-mile Wales Coast Path is a world-class natural beauty, and the 3m tourists it attracts annually may soon catch a glimpse of Europe’s largest tidal energy project. Morlais, expected to launch this year and located off the Anglesey coast, will generate clean electricity for up to 180,000 households. Wylfa will also host UK’s first small modular nuclear reactors
Further down the coast in Neath Port Talbot and Pembrokeshire is a major battery storage project, along with Celtic Freeport, which aims to catalyse a hydrogen economy and harness energy from floating offshore wind farms. Investors should combine business with pleasure when visiting.
Welsh businesses deserve a global audience
Is Wales a place to build a global business? We put that question to a room full of founders, funders and advisers at our Bevis Marks office for a Wales Week London event last week. One guest captured the ambition well: label your business solely as Welsh and you risk limiting yourself. Better to think of it as “a global business based in Wales”.
Welsh businesses, from drinks brands like Au Vodka and Tiny Rebel to early-stage tech founders, are building businesses that deserve a national or global audience. What holds so many back is confidence rather than capability: not seeking advice early enough, assuming the conversation with investors is not yet theirs to have. One guest spoke candidly about the sheer number of presentations it took before receiving even a “maybe”, a reminder that persistence is as important as the pitch itself.
Telling the story of a business matters too, but thankfully the Welsh are wonderful storytellers – look no further than Dylan Thomas or Jan Morris. For those on the other side of the Severn, listening to their stories may just unearth a gem.
Quote of the week:
“Be brave and back ideas, not just certainty.”
Sam Huxtable, founder and managing partner of Waterspring Ventures, based in Cardiff
What I’m listening to
The Elis James and John Robins BBC podcast is my go-to listen when commuting from Swansea to Cardiff. And not just because I see symmetries between a Welsh-English comedic union and our nations’ joint legal jurisdiction.
A particular highlight in the show is Cymru Connection, where Elis has one minute to identify a mutual connection between him and a Welsh caller.
Of course, we often joke in Wales that there are only two degrees of separation between any of our three million population. It certainly makes networking events more interesting.
Away from podcasts, I’m re-reading 1984 and was struck by the volume of contextual Welsh influence. George Orwell’s concept of newspeak and thought policing, for example, could be interpreted in a similar manner to the suppression of the Welsh language as cultural control.
Phil Pugh is a corporate partner in Cardiff at law firm Browne Jacobson