AMD backs UK AI push with £2 billion pledge and new Cambridge supercomputers
Key Points
- AMD has announced plans to invest up to £2bn in the UK over five years to expand AI infrastructure and research.
- The investment was set out by chief executive Dr Lisa Su at London Tech Week and aligns with the government's AI Opportunities Action Plan.
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall welcomed the investment, citing jobs, skills and economic growth.
- AMD announced new partnerships with Imperial College London and Oriole Networks on AI and computational science research.
- AMD and Dell Technologies are working with the University of Cambridge on the Zenith AI supercomputer and Sunrise fusion AI system.
AMD has announced plans to invest up to £2 billion in the United Kingdom over the next five years, in a programme aimed at expanding the country’s AI infrastructure, supporting scientific research and developing technical skills.
The chip company set out the investment at London Tech Week, where AMD chair and chief executive Dr Lisa Su outlined a series of partnerships intended to broaden access to the advanced computing that underpins AI research and public-sector innovation.
AMD said the initiatives align with the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan and its AI Hardware Strategy.
“The United Kingdom has the talent, research excellence and ambition to help lead the next era of AI,” Su said.
“AMD is proud to deepen our commitment to the UK and work with partners across government, academia and industry to expand access to the compute infrastructure needed to advance sovereign AI, accelerate discovery and drive long-term economic growth.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves described the investment as “a major vote of confidence in Britain’s place as a global AI superpower,” adding that it would “drive more cutting-edge research here in the UK, open up opportunities for people to build the skills they need for the jobs of the future, and speed up breakthroughs that can improve people’s lives and grow our economy.”
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the investment reflected “the strength of Britain’s talent, research and ambition in AI,” and that partners such as AMD choosing to invest in the country would help “build the compute capability needed to power innovation, drive growth, create jobs, and ensure the most advanced AI technologies are developed in the UK.”
As part of the announcement, AMD said it would collaborate with Imperial College London on computational science, including healthcare innovation and climate modelling, and explore optimising AI models and data-intensive applications on AMD platforms.
The company is also working with Oriole Networks in support of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) Scaling Inference Lab, a national initiative designed to address AI infrastructure bottlenecks.
AMD said the effort would support what is expected to be the world’s first large-scale AI system powered by a pure photonic network.
On supercomputing, AMD and Dell Technologies are working with the University of Cambridge on the new Zenith AI supercomputer, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and UK Research and Innovation, and the Sunrise fusion AI system, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and owned by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
AMD said the systems would support AI-for-science applications including healthcare research, climate modelling, materials science, engineering simulation and fusion research.
