Summary:

• £2bn investment over five years to support advanced computing, scientific research and workforce development across the UK
• New strategic partnerships with Imperial College London and Oriole Networks will help advance AI, quantum and next-gen computing research
• AMD and Dell Technologies are supporting the University of Cambridge’s Zenith AI HPC and Sunrise fusion AI system, helping expand the UK’s sovereign AI infrastructure
• AMD Instinct GPUs, AMD EPYC CPUs and AMD ROCm open software will support projects spanning scientific research, healthcare, public-sector innovation and AI-driven discovery

AMD announced plans to invest up to £2bn over the next five years in the United Kingdom to accelerate AI innovation and research and expand access to the compute resources needed for long-term economic growth and scientific leadership across the country.Speaking at London Tech Week, AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su outlined a series of investments and strategic collaborations designed to help accelerate the UK’s AI ecosystem and broaden access to the advanced computing that underpins scientific discovery and public-sector innovation. The initiatives align with the UK’s AI Opportunities Action Plan and AI Hardware Strategy, supporting broader national priorities to build world-class AI infrastructure, develop technical talent and accelerate AI adoption.

“The UK has the talent, research excellence and ambition to help lead the next era of AI,” said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD. “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.”

The announcement was welcomed by UK government leaders as a significant step toward strengthening the country’s AI infrastructure, research ecosystem and long-term economic competitiveness.

“This investment is a major vote of confidence in Britain’s place as a global AI superpower. We’ve got the talent, the world-class universities and the ambition to lead, and partnerships like this help turn that potential into real progress,” said Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the exchequer. “It will 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.”

“This investment reflects the strength of Britain’s talent, research and ambition in AI – but also the infrastructure we are putting in place to match it,” said Liz Kendall, technology secretary. “With world-class chip designers, leading universities, and partners such as AMD choosing to invest here, we are building the compute capability needed to power innovation, drive growth, create jobs, and ensure the most advanced AI technologies are developed in the UK.”

New Strategic Collaborations to Advance AI Research and Infrastructure
Building on its recently announced work with Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) and JPMorganChase, AMD also announced a collaboration with Imperial College London to advance computational science and supporting research that relies on large-scale computing resources, including healthcare innovation and climate modeling.

AMD and Imperial also intend to explore opportunities to optimize AI models, scientific workflows and data-intensive applications on AMD compute platforms and AMD ROCm open software.

Additionally, AMD is collaborating with Oriole Networks in support of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) Scaling Inference Lab, a national initiative designed to address critical AI infrastructure bottlenecks.

The effort combines Oriole’s PRISM photonic networking architecture with AMD Instinct GPUs and AMD EPYC processors to evaluate new approaches for scaling inference workloads while improving performance and energy efficiency and reducing latency.

The initiative supports what is expected to be the world’s first large-scale AI system powered by a pure photonic network, an important step toward infrastructure technologies that can support future generations of AI systems in the UK.

Expanding National AI Supercomputing Capacity
AMD and Dell Technologies are working with the University of Cambridge on its expanding national AI infrastructure footprint, including the new Zenith AI HPC and the Sunrise fusion AI system developed in collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

Zenith is a significant new UK AI-for-science platform, funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), designed and operated by the University of Cambridge, and built with AMD and Dell technology.

Sunrise is a second AI HPC powered by AMD and Dell being built now, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), owned by UKAEA, and operated by the University of Cambridge. Sunrise is part of a long standing UKAEA-University of Cambridge partnership and dedicated to the fusion mission.

Together, these systems support a broad range of AI-for-science applications including healthcare research, climate modelling, materials science, engineering simulation, fusion research and scientific AI model development.

Supporting the UK’s National AI Future
By combining strategic investments with research and ecosystem partnerships, AMD is helping expand the UK’s computing capabilities and supporting the next generation of scientific and technological breakthroughs. The company will continue working with government, academia and industry to strengthen the foundations for long-term competitiveness and global leadership in AI.