← Back to the Cloud and compute tiles
Compute policy and programmes
32 records Generated from this page's data. Click a name to open its panel on the Cloud and compute page. Records resting on one source are tagged "one source".| Record | What it is | Place | Links | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Market Commitment for AI inference hardwareSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Government purchase commitment for novel AI chips from UK start-ups for the AIRR heterogeneous supercomputer; raised from up to £100m to £150m. due to be awarded summer 2026 | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-ai-hardware-pl · delivery.ai.gov.uk/2/ · gov.uk/government/news/ai-to-power-national-rene | verified | |
| AI Hardware Innovation ProgrammeSchemes, programmes and AI lines · also on Chips and hardware | Part of a £120m package; supports UK AI hardware firms from feasibility to commercialisation, designed with UKRI and the UK Semiconductor Centre. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-ai-hardware-pl | one source | |
| AI open access call (Isambard-AI)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Government call offering 50,000 to 1.4 million GPU hours on Isambard-AI for AI-for-science projects, open to UK businesses. closedAI-for-science GPU callKey facts Up to 8 million GPU hours in total; 50,000–1.4 million per project; 6- or 12-month projects; areas: materials, fusion, medical research, engineering biology, quantum, AI-driven discovery; business awards capped at 70% (micro/small) or 60% (medium) of eligible costs for feasibility or industrial research, 45% or 35% for experimental development; first published 2026-06-04; closed 2026-07-17; earliest start 2026-08-24; applicants cannot also use the Sovereign AI route; no winners listed | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-research-resou | one source | |
| AIRR broad AI for science callSchemes, programmes and AI lines | AI Research Resource call offering 200,000 to 1,000,000 GPU hours over six months for AI-for-science projects. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st · ukri.org/opportunity/airr-compute-opportunity-ai | one source | |
| AIRR Gateway routeSchemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI-run, year-round access route for researchers to Isambard-AI and Dawn, offering up to 10,000 GPU hours over three months. open | ukri.org/councils/epsrc/facilities-and-resources · gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st · hpc.cam.ac.uk/d-w-n | verified | |
| AIRR Innovator routeSchemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI call offering 50,000 to 150,000 free GPU hours over six months on Dawn or Isambard-AI, open to UK businesses. closedmid-scale GPU allocationsKey facts Indicative budget 2,000,000 GPU hours across the two AIRR services; 50,000–150,000 per project; published 2025-11-06; closed 2026-01-16 16:00; compute only; full award released only after feasibility shown (example: at least 10,000 GPU hours used); no winners listed | ukri.org/opportunity/isambard-ai-and-dawn-airr-s | one source | |
| AIRR Public-Private Partnerships programmeSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Roadmap programme to find public-private partnership options for expanding the AI Research Resource. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| AIRR Rapid Access route (SMEs)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI route giving UK micro, small and medium firms up to 20,000 free GPU hours on Isambard-AI or Zenith. openSME GPU accessKey facts 20,000 GPU hours per project, to be used within 3 months; compute only, no funding; UK-registered businesses with a Companies House number; published 2025-08-18; Dawn removed and Zenith added 2026-10-15; no winners listed | ukri.org/opportunity/isambard-ai-and-zenith-airr · hpc.cam.ac.uk/access-dawn | verified | |
| AIRR system takeover call for missionsSchemes, programmes and AI lines | AIRR call giving a mission team up to 1,400,000 GPU hours, about 80% of capacity, over two weeks. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st | one source | |
| AIRRPORTSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Planned single online entry point to the AI Research Resource service, set out in the UK Compute Roadmap. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| ARIA Scaling Inference LabSchemes, programmes and AI lines | £50m ARIA lab (February 2026) to test and validate new AI compute systems; the AI Hardware Plan adds at least £20m, delivered with CommonAI. announced; expanded June 2026 | gov.uk/government/publications/digital-and-techn · gov.uk/government/publications/uk-ai-hardware-pl · aria.org.uk/opportunity-spaces/nature-inspired-c | verified | |
| Community Centres of Excellence (compute)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Roadmap plan for centres giving subject-specific user support on national compute. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| Compute "Bridge" (novel hardware pull-through)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Roadmap mechanism to incubate, test and integrate new computing technologies in National Supercomputing Centres. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| EuroHPC supercomputers (UK access)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | UK researchers can apply to use EuroHPC Joint Undertaking supercomputers; listed under international partnerships in the UK Compute Roadmap. | Outside the UK | ukri.org/councils/epsrc/facilities-and-resources · gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | verified |
| ExCALIBURSchemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund programme to build next-generation high-performance simulation software for exascale computers; ran to March 2025. ended | ukri.org/opportunity/investigate-high-priority-u · gtr.ukri.org/project/E63DF6EB-54B6-471E-AE54-207 | verified | |
| Federated compute coordination feasibility studySchemes, programmes and AI lines | Study, with possible pilots, of a system to coordinate idle research compute across institutions over the Jisc/Janet network. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st | one source | |
| Grand Software Challenge and Skills ProgrammeSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Roadmap programme on research software and compute skills, due to launch in 2026. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| Hardware Security R&D ProgrammeSchemes, programmes and AI lines · also on Chips and hardware | New £18m government programme on securing AI hardware, including memory security. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-ai-hardware-pl | one source | |
| Health data trusted research environments on HPC (AIRR)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Plan to run trusted research environments for health data inside high-performance computing clusters via the AI Research Resource. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st | one source | |
| Living Benchmarks LibrarySchemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI library of benchmarks for compute systems promised in the UK Compute Roadmap. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| Mission One AIRR compute access (drug discovery)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Funding and large-scale AIRR compute for drug-discovery science teams under the AI for Science Strategy's first mission. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/ai-for-science-st | one source | |
| National Supercomputing CentresSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Roadmap designation for national compute centres; EPCC at the University of Edinburgh is named the first. announced | Edinburgh (—) | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source |
| Ofcom cloud services market study and CMA referralSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Ofcom found egress fees, interoperability limits and committed-spend discounts in UK public cloud and passed the market to the CMA for investigation. referred to CMA | computerweekly.com/news/366554712/Ofcom-cloud-re | one source | |
| OpenBindSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Consortium led by Diamond Light Source given £8m seed investment through the Sovereign AI Unit, named in the UK Compute Roadmap. funded | Harwell (—) | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source |
| PRACE access routeSchemes, programmes and AI lines | International route for UK researchers to European supercomputers through PRACE projects, managed by EPCC and EPSRC. | Outside the UK | ukri.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/NERC-150925- | one source |
| ProQure (quantum computer procurement)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | Government commitment of up to £1bn to buy large-scale quantum computers by the early 2030s. announced | gov.uk/government/publications/digital-and-techn | one source | |
| Sovereign AI start-up compute allocations (AIRR)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | The Sovereign AI Unit gives selected UK AI start-ups free time on national supercomputers; its first round gave over 3 million GPU hours to six firms.free GPU hours for start-upsKey facts First allocations 2026-04-16: over 3 million GPU hours, estimated worth £14m, to Prima Mente, Doubleword, Cosine, Cursive, Odyssey and Twig Bio; up to 1 million GPU hours per start-up; about 30 firms in AIRR access discussions (2026-04); Prima Mente's 1 million GPU hours ran on Isambard-AI (2026-07); "over 3 million GPU hours" restated 2026-06-10; Cambridge MACE project named as a recipient (2026-01); final decisions by the Sovereign AI Unit; systems named: Isambard and DAWN | gov.uk/government/news/ai-firms-pioneering-drug- · sovereignai.gov.uk/post/our-first-investments | verified | |
| UK AI Hardware PlanSchemes, programmes and AI lines · also on Chips and hardware | The government's June 2026 plan to buy British AI chips and build a new public AI supercomputer.public policy | gov.uk/government/news/a-decisive-shift-to-power · gov.uk/government/publications/expression-of-int · gov.uk/government/publications/uk-ai-hardware-pl · delivery.ai.gov.uk/2/ | verified | |
| UK Compute Community ForumSchemes, programmes and AI lines | Forum for the UK compute community promised in the UK Compute Roadmap. planned | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma | one source | |
| UK Compute RoadmapSchemes, programmes and AI lines | The government's plan for public and private AI computing in the UK to 2030, including a 20-fold larger AI Research Resource.public policy | gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadma · delivery.ai.gov.uk/2/ · business.gov.uk/invest-in-uk/sectors/ai-and-data | verified | |
| UKRI Access to High Performance ComputingSchemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI call giving researchers up to 12 months on ARCHER2 and Tier-2 systems, assessed by an EPSRC panel meeting twice a year; autumn 2025 round closed 6 November 2025. autumn 2025 round closed | ukri.org/opportunity/access-to-high-performance- · ukri.org/what-we-do/what-we-have-funded/epsrc/ac | verified | |
| UKRI National Compute Resources (NCR)Schemes, programmes and AI lines | UKRI-funded set of four national compute services, including Cirrus and the planned Baskerville GPU NCR. | ri.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/?p=7513 · hpc-uk.ac.uk/facilities/ · ukri.org/news/new-national-computing-resources-t · ed.ac.uk/news/step-change-for-uks-digital-horsep | verified |