UK tech bosses urge focus on AI skills and growth in high-stakes election — no matter who wins
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (left), leader of the incumbent Conservatives, and opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer of the Labour Party. The politicians traded barbs in their first head-to-head debate on Tuesday ahead of the July 4 General Election.
Pa Images | Getty Images
LONDON — British technology executives and entrepreneurs want the next government to focus on promoting skills around the development and use of artificial intelligence and growth-oriented fiscal measures.
Brits are set to head to the polls on July 4.
The business community has been calling on the two main political parties to push for economic growth, a regulatory environment that is accommodating to technology innovation and a long-term vision that can cement the U.K.’s position on the world stage.
They say that, whether it’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or Labour leader Keir Starmer that makes it into Downing Street, the next government is likely to be one that keeps high-growth tech businesses’ interests at heart.
Upskilling in an AI age
One thing U.K. tech executives are pushing for is fostering innovation in artificial intelligence and cultivating citizens’ grasp on AI-centric skills — across multiple generations.
Skills that help us feel better equipped with large language models and other next-generation AI tools rather than losing our grip on these tools and becoming controlled by them should be a key focus of any government, top tech executives told CNBC.
Innovation is heading very quickly towards autonomous AI. We need to have the skills in this country … to be able to adopt and use it in a responsible way, with the right controls and protocols.
Zahra Bahrololoumi
U.K. and Ireland CEO, Salesforce
At Salesforce’s World Tour London, a tech conference where the U.S. enterprise software giant hosts several major customers and partners, promoting growth and prosperity with new technologies like AI was a key theme.
At a press conference on the sidelines of the event — away from the mascots with full-body suits of Einstein and Astro, the raccoon character that guides users around Salesforce’s customer relationship management tools — the firm’s U.K. boss spelled out what she wants from the next administration.
“With any government, I will be specific and I will bang this drum: one in 10 of us feel equipped with AI. Innovation is heading very quickly towards autonomous AI. We need to have the skills in this country … to be able to adopt and use it in a responsible way, with the right controls and protocols,” Zahra Bahrololoumi, Salesforce’s U.K. and Ireland CEO, said in response to a CNBC question.
“Any government appreciates that, most of the major parties do,” she added. “That would be my wish list — if there was one thing just to prioritize, [it should be] digital skills.”
Matthew Houlihan, senior director of government and corporate affairs for U.K. and Europe at U.S. enterprise tech firm Cisco, said the next government should seek to make the country a leader in innovation and emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing.
“It should also be an excellent time to review approaches to essential aspects of the U.K.’s digitising economy such as digital skills, tech adoption support and approaches to security to ensure that the benefits of digital technologies can be felt by as many people across the country as possible,” he added.
Political leanings
Many technology executives remain coy about which candidate will secure their vote come July 4 — but a growing number are beginning to make their political affiliations publicly known.
Last month, dozens of business executives, entrepreneurs, and investors signed an open letter stating their support for Labour in the upcoming election. “We, as leaders and investors in British business, believe it is time for a change,” they said in the letter.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy leader, Angela Rayner, attend an event to launch Labour’s election pledges at The Backstage Centre on May 16, 2024 in Purfleet, United Kingdom.
Leon Neal | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Signatories included several influential names in the world of U.K. tech: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Founders Forum co-founder Jonathan Goodwin, and Atom Bank CEO Mark Mullen.
The writers of the letter say that the U.K. economy has suffered from a decade of stagnation amid a lack of both political stability and a consistent economic strategy.
Britain’s Sunak has said it will “take time” for the general population to “really feel” upward momentum in the economy.
Data released earlier this year showed that U.K. gross domestic product rose by 0.6% between January and March after slumping into a shallow recession in the second half of 2023.
An end to uncertainty
The past four years have seen the U.K. undergo particular adversity and economic instability — from the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine conflict’s impact on global supply chains, to the rising cost of living for both consumers and businesses.
Add to that the disastrous “mini budget” in September 2022 under Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss, what British tech bosses say they are looking for now is stability and certainty.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (L) and Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt (R) during a visit to BAE Systems on March 25, 2024 in Barrow-in-Furness, England.
Danny Lawson | Wpa Pool | Getty Images
“In the last two years, both parties have materially converged in terms of the fact that businesses are important for the country’s growth — business is important, fintech [financial technology] is important, entrepreneurship is important,” Rishi Khosla, CEO of British digital bank OakNorth, told CNBC.
“The strong desire is for whichever party that comes into power to stay the course on that, to make sure that they stay the course on the narrative but also on what they do, whether it’s immigration, whether it’s tax, and they don’t create environments that go against that for populist measures,” Khosla said.
Big on statements, short on detail
One current source of frustration for U.K. tech leaders remains the fact that neither of the major political parties have yet explained how they’ll boost business — let alone the entrepreneurial community and high-growth technology industry.
Tech bosses CNBC spoke with found themselves unable to point to specific policies and plans from either of the main political parties.
British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt recently unveiled a spate of new tax breaks and investments which he said would help to establish the U.K. as a world leader in high-growth industries.
Hunt hinted he’ll introduce new tax cuts if the Conservatives are re-elected, saying in an interview with The Telegraph that the priority will be “business taxes that boost investment,” as well as growth. He has refrained from offering further details on his plans, however.
Labour has previously committed to capping the headline rate of corporation tax at its current 25% rate, and confirmed it will maintain certain tax reliefs including for full expensing and research and development (R&D).
Labour says it will publish a roadmap for business taxation, if and when it is elected.
— CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is seen through glass during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Feb. 11, 2025.
Aurelien Morissard | Via Reuters
Elon Musk tried to derail a major artificial intelligence infrastructure deal in the Middle East after learning that his startup, xAI, would be excluded from the initiative, CNBC has confirmed.
Earlier this month, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and Emirati firm G42 announced plans to build a sweeping Stargate AI campus in the United Arab Emirates. Musk was frustrated that OpenAI, led by personal rival Sam Altman, was tapped for the deal, and he intervened in an effort to get xAI involved, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named in order to speak freely.
Musk argued that President Donald Trump would not approve the deal, the person said. The announcement was delayed by several days as stakeholders, including the White House, dealt with blowback from Musk, who has been engaged in a public and legal spat with Altman and OpenAI.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Musk attempted to block the deal.
In a statement to CNBC, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t mention the dustup.
“The United States and the UAE signed a groundbreaking framework agreement establishing the first AI acceleration partnership,” Leavitt said. “The framework advances the buildout of AI infrastructure in the United States and the UAE. This was another great deal for the American people, thanks to President Trump and his exceptional team.”
Musk wasn’t in the UAE when the deal was signed, but was with the president in Saudi Arabia during an earlier part of the Middle East trip, according to a senior White House official. The official said Musk has relayed his concerns about the government fairly treating all AI companies.
OpenAI declined to comment. Musk didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is a complicating character in Trump’s effort to solidify U.S. leadership in AI. Musk spent close to $300 million to send President Trump back to the White House, and has since been leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), slashing the size of the federal workforce. His time as a special government employee is coming to an end this month.
When it comes to AI, Musk has in recent years been a vocal critic of Altman, a former friend and colleague. The pair helped form OpenAI as a research lab in 2015, but Musk later had a public break with the project and has consistently criticized its structure and close alliance with Microsoft.
While xAI has been building its commercial efforts, acquiring Musk’s social media company X in March and this week partnering with Telegram to roll out its Grok chatbot, Musk has been trying to thwart OpenAI’s effort to convert into a for-profit entity.
Musk has sued OpenAI for breach of contract and to try and stop the conversion, and a Musk-led investor group made an unsuccessful bid to buy control of the startup for $97.4 billion in February.
It’s also not the first time Musk has been critical of Stargate.
In January, Trump unveiled the Stargate project, with OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank committing an initial $100 billion, and up to $500 billion, of investment in AI infrastructure in the U.S. over four years. Musk was quick to cast doubt on the financing behind the project.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote in response to an OpenAI post on his social platform X. He later added that SoftBank had “well under” $10 billion secured.
Two months later, SoftBank led a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $300 billion valuation.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this report.
WATCH: Elon Musk tried to block Sam Altman’s big AI deal in the UAE
A Dell Technologies sign is seen in Round Rock, Texas, on June 2, 2023.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Shares of Dell Technologies rose on Thursday in extended trading after the company raised its full-year earnings forecast and issued a stronger-than-expected forecast for the current quarter.
However, Dell’s adjusted earnings per share came up short versus LSEG estimates on in-line revenue.
Here’s how the computer maker did versus LSEG consensus estimates:
- Earnings per share: $1.55 adjusted vs. $1.69 estimated
- Revenue: $23.38 billion vs. $23.14 billion estimated
Dell said it expects $2.25 in adjusted earnings per share for the current quarter, with between $28.5 billion and $29.5 billion in revenue. That was significantly higher than LSEG expectations.
Company officials attributed the strong guidance to $7 billion in artificial intelligence systems that are expected to ship during the quarter, which are higher-margin than other Dell systems.
For the full year, Dell still expects about $103 billion in revenue, in line with LSEG expectations, but it raised its forecast for full-year adjusted earnings to $9.40, which was a 10 cent increase from the company’s prior outlook.
Dell is one of Nvidia’s primary vendors that builds systems around the chipmaker’s AI graphics processing units. Dell said on Thursday that it was seeing “unprecedented demand” for AI systems, especially for second-tier cloud providers, such as Coreweave.
Texas-based Dell said that it has $14.4 billion in confirmed orders for AI systems in its backlog that will ship in the coming quarters. It recorded $12.1 billion in confirmed AI orders during the first quarter, the company said. These numbers will turn into recorded revenue when Dell ships the system to its clients. In February, Dell said it expected $15 billion in AI server sales during its fiscal 2026, up from $10 billion last year.
Overall, Dell’s revenue grew 5% on an annual basis. It said it expects revenue to grow 8% during the fiscal year.
Dell’s server business is reported as part of its Infrastructure Solutions Group, which had $10.3 billion in sales during the quarter, a 12% rise. Of that, $6.3 billion was sales for servers and networking, and $4 billion was for computers that store data.
The company’s laptop and PC business, its Client Solutions Group, recorded $12.5 billion in sales as the global PC market is expected to recover this year after several slumping years.
The computer maker also said it significantly stepped up its shareholder capital return during the quarter, spending $2.4 billion on share repurchases and dividends during the period. It spent $2.58 billion on share repurchases for all of its fiscal 2025, which ended in January.
Technology
Musk’s SpaceX town in Texas warns residents they may lose right to ‘continue using’ their property
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway