The world's fourth biggest company, Google-owner Alphabet, has announced a new £5bn ($6.8bn) investment in UK artificial intelligence (AI). The money will be used for infrastructure and scientific research over the next two years - the first of several massive US investments being unveiled ahead of US President Donald Trump's state visit. Google's President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat told BBC News in an exclusive interview that there were profound opportunities in the UK for its pioneering work in advanced science. The company will officially open a vast $1bn (£735m) data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday. The investment will expand this site and also include funding for London-based DeepMind, run by British Nobel Prize winner Sir Demis Hassabis, which deploys AI to revolutionise advanced scientific research.

A new report warns that the number of US investors in powerful commercial spyware rose sharply in 2024 and names new countries linked to the dangerous technology. The United States has emerged as the largest investor in commercial spyware --a global industry that has enabled the covert surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, diplomats, and others, posing grave threats to human rights and national security . In 2024, 20 new US-based spyware investors were identified, bringing the total number of American backers of this technology to 31. This growth has largely outpaced other major investing countries such as Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom, according to a new report published today by the Atlantic Council. The study surveyed 561 entities across 46 countries between 1992 and 2024, identifying 34 new investors.

Since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump has touted corporate and foreign US investment announcements as proof he is ushering in "the golden age of America". On January 21, Trump said that before he'd finished the "first full business day" of his second term, the United States had "already secured nearly 3 trillion of new investments". On April 2, he said, "It looks like we're going to have about 6 trillion of investments". Six days later, Trump told National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner attendees that the investment total was "now revised up to about 7 (trillion)". During an April 30 NewsNation town hall, Trump speculated that "it could be more than 8 trillion".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Vladimir Putin of "playing games" after the Russian leader proposed a three-day unilateral ceasefire to coincide with Moscow's Victory Day commemorations. "This is more of a theatrical performance on his part. Because in two or three days, it is impossible to develop a plan for the next steps to end the war," Zelenskyy told a small group of journalists on Friday, in remarks embargoed until Saturday. Russia announced a 72-hour halt in hostilities beginning May 8, but has so far rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire pushed by Ukraine and the United States, which is trying to broker an end to the three-year war. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not be "playing games to create a pleasant atmosphere to allow for Putin's exit from isolation on May 9" when some foreign leaders are due in Moscow for Russia's World War II commemorations.

Apple said on Monday it would spend 500bn in US investments in the next four years that will include a giant factory in Texas for artificial intelligence servers and add about 20,000 research and development jobs across the country in that time. That 500bn in expected spending includes everything from purchases from US suppliers to US filming of television shows and movies for its Apple TV service. The company declined to say how much of the figure it was already planning to spend with its US supply base, which includes firms such as Corning that makes glass for iPhones in Kentucky. The move comes after media reports that the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, met President Donald Trump last week. Many of Apple's products that are assembled in China could face 10% tariffs imposed by Trump earlier this month, though the iPhone maker had secured some waivers from China tariffs in the first Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump, with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at his side, has announced that SoftBank will invest 100bn in the United States over the next four years in what would be a boost to the domestic economy. In a joint appearance with Son on Monday, Trump said that the investment would create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and related infrastructure, with the money to be deployed before the end of Trump's term. Trump said the investment was evidence of "monumental confidence in America's future". He playfully encouraged Son to make the investment 200bn with the Japanese billionaire responding that he would try. The 100bn pledge, made at a flag-bedecked event at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, fits in with Trump's vow to bolster the US economy and reduce the effect of inflation on Americans during his second term, which begins on January 20.

The United States has finalised rules that limit investments in critical technology sectors in China such as artificial intelligence on national security grounds, the Treasury Department has announced. The restrictions will bar US citizens and permanent residents, as well as US-based companies, from engaging in transactions involving technologies including AI, semiconductors and quantum computing, the Treasury said in a statement on Monday. US investors will also be obligated to inform the Treasury about investments in some less advanced technologies "that may contribute to the threat to the national security of the United States", the Treasury said. The curbs, which are due to take effect on January 2, will ensure "US investment is not exploited to advance the development of key technologies by those who may use them to threaten our national security," said Paul Rosen, the assistant secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security. "US investments, including the intangible benefits like managerial assistance and access to investment and talent networks that often accompany such capital flows, must not be used to help countries of concern develop their military, intelligence, and cyber capabilities," Rosen said.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain United States investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors. Biden said in a letter to Congress he was declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries like China "in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities". The long-awaited order authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems. Senior administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals, rather than economic interests and that the categories it covered were narrow in scope. The order seeks to blunt China's ability to use US investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military while also preserving broader levels of trade that are vital for both nations' economies.

"China is betting on AI and investing in AI and deploying AI on a scale no other country is doing," says Abishur Prakash, a futurist and author of books about the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) on geopolitics. As developments in AI accelerate, some in the US fear that the ability of China's powerful central government to marshal data and pour resources into the field will push it ahead. The country has announced billions in funding for start-ups, launched programmes to woo researchers from overseas and streamlined its data policies. It has announced news-reading robots and AI-powered strategy for foreign relations. Perhaps most alarming to the US are its efforts to incorporate it into its military. In the last few years, Washington has toughened oversight of Chinese investments, banned US firms from doing business with certain Chinese companies and increased criminal prosecution of alleged technology theft.

"China is betting on AI and investing in AI and deploying AI on a scale no other country is doing," says Abishur Prakash, a futurist and author of books about the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) on geopolitics. As developments in AI accelerate, some in the US fear that the ability of China's powerful central government to marshal data and pour resources into the field will push it ahead. The country has announced billions in funding for start-ups, launched programmes to woo researchers from overseas and streamlined its data policies. It has announced news-reading robots and AI-powered strategy for foreign relations. Perhaps most alarming to the US are its efforts to incorporate it into its military. In the last few years, Washington has toughened oversight of Chinese investments, banned US firms from doing business with certain Chinese companies and increased criminal prosecution of alleged technology theft.