While many companies and governments would spend that amount of money on having a decent drinks cabinet, the UK believes that sum is ample to make those nasty smelly foreigners quake at British imperial power again.

Taxpayer money will be used as part of a drive to build a national AI resource in Britain, similar to those under development in the US and elsewhere.

The money will also buy key components from major chipmakers Nvidia, AMD and Intel.

To be fair, the government has been warned by its officials that $127 million was far too low relative to investment by peers in the EU, US and China. 

Whitehall has apparently warned that a hold-up in progress triggered by relatively weak investment could leave the UK exposed amid mounting geopolitical tensions over AI chip technology.

But, the government knows that it does not have much money having spent it on Liz Truss's failed economic strategy, and propping up the flailing post Brexit economy. Then there is the small matter of the Prime Minster's private jet.