The UK government has unveiled plans to establish a new AI collaboration with the European Union (EU), aiming to drive growth and support its Plan for Change. As part of the collaboration, public research organisations are now invited to apply to host the UK’s AI Factory Antenna. The facility, if approved, will connect British research expertise with Europe’s advanced supercomputers, enhancing the UK’s AI capabilities.
The initiative is part of the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, which aims to accelerate AI adoption across the economy. The announcement follows a recent UK-EU agreement, secured by the Prime Minister, intended to boost British employment, support businesses, and enhance economic growth.
“By strengthening our partnership with Europe, we’re giving British innovators the compute power to solve climate and health challenges, grow the economy, and deliver our Plan for Change,” said UK Minister for AI and Digital Government Feryal Clark. “This is about more than faster processing – it’s about putting the UK at the forefront of global AI. With access to some of Europe’s most advanced systems, our researchers and startups will be equipped to lead on cutting-edge breakthroughs and strengthen Britain’s role as a trusted partner in international AI development.”
EuroHPC partnership offers up to €5m for successful bid
The expression of interest is open to individual public research organisations or consortia, seeking to identify the UK’s government-backed bid to apply for EuroHPC’s call, with up to €5m available.
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is an EU-led initiative that consolidates resources from the EU and participating nations to enhance European computing infrastructure and research capabilities. It unites top-tier supercomputing systems from 35 countries, including all 27 EU member states, Norway, and Turkey, to propel the next wave of computing technologies. In May 2024, the UK joined the EuroHPC JU, granting UK researchers free access to EuroHPC’s supercomputers through the UK’s association with Horizon Europe.
If successful, the selected organisation will become the UK’s AI Factory Antenna, serving as a gateway to European supercomputers through a partnership with an AI Factory on the continent. The collaboration will enable UK scientists, startups, and public institutions to develop larger and more complex AI models. Furthermore, the programme builds on the UK’s investment in compute infrastructure, with £44bn allocated to data centres since July last year.
This summer, the government will announce the next sites for AI Growth Zones, which are specialist clusters designed to host AI infrastructure. The developments will be supported by the forthcoming Compute Strategy, a ten-year roadmap aimed at increasing national compute capacity twenty-fold.
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