UK pledges huge increase in computing capacity to build AI industry

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered straight to your inbox.

The UK will invest in a massive expansion of government-owned AI computing capacity over five years, including building a new supercomputer, as it seeks to establish a globally competitive artificial intelligence sector, ministers will announce on Monday.

The move comes in response to a newly published report A.I Opportunities for the UK economy, commissioned by the Government and drafted by British Venture Capitalists Matt Clifford.

The supercomputer will join two other advanced machines, including Isambard-AI from the University of Bristol in the UK, which has around 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), specialized chips for building AI software, and Dawn from the University of Cambridge.

Clifford’s report advocates reaching the equivalent of 100,000 GPUs in government-owned capacity by 2030.

The new capacity, which will represent a 20-fold increase in the UK’s sovereign computing power, will be set aside for privately owned AI data centers and will be deployed by the government primarily for AI applications in academia and the public service.

It is not clear how much the project will cost, although it will come out of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology’s research and development budget.

The announcement comes as Clifford has been hired on a part-time basis Advisor to Ministers On AI, the recommendations in its report are helping to implement them, said two people briefed on the plan. Downing Street declined to comment on the proposals.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Our plan will make Britain a world leader [in AI]. This will give the required base to the industry. . . This means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services. That is what this government is bringing about.”

Starmer became increasingly excited about the value of AI as an engine of economic growth and public sector reform. Global Investment Summit in October, according to people briefed on the matter.

The Clifford report, known as the “AI Opportunities Action Plan”, was submitted to the government in September, but its publication has been delayed. Several cabinet ministers met to discuss its content in December, according to people briefed on the talks.

It sets out 50 recommendations to build a thriving national AI industry, to improve the conditions for creating, measuring and adopting new technologies.

Recommendations adopted by the government include: creating AI “Growth Zones”, areas in the UK with faster access to planning approvals to build AI infrastructure; and an AI Energy Council, to advise on energy resource needs for AI, including nuclear power.

Technology experts, including Clifford, have argued that sovereign computing power is essential to ensure British AI companies and researchers can be less dependent on other countries’ AI businesses.

They argue that power can establish new AI technologies and organizations that are globally relevant, and that having access to reliable computer power at a reasonable cost is critical as computing infrastructure becomes a geopolitical battleground.

Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle came under fire in August for canceling funding for Edinburgh University’s £800mn exascale supercomputer programme, a machine that can carry out complex scientific calculations such as physics simulations, a move that has caught the technology and academic sectors off-guard.

Kyle insisted he had “cut nothing”, as the £800mn promised by the previous government had not been budgeted for.

In the absence of any significant new sovereign computing programs, the UK’s most powerful computer has been overtaken by rivals, meaning the country has no more machines. Top 50 worldwide.

Additional reporting by George Hammond in San Francisco