The UK government has cancelled £1.3 billion in funding for tech and AI projects that were announced by the previous administration.
Projects affected include the exascale supercomputer planned for the University of Edinburgh and the AI Research Resource (AIRR).
Last year, the Conservative government promised £800m for the exascale system and £500m for the AIRR.
However, the current Labour government, elected in July, said no new funding for the programme was included in the previous government’s spending plans, so the projects will not go ahead.
The University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Computing Facility (ACF) already has a supercomputer, and in October 2023 it was announced that the facility would host the UK’s first exascale computer, which was supposed to be operational by 2025. The university has already spent £31 million building a new wing at its EPCC purpose-built ACF. It’s unclear what the decision to cancel the funding will mean for the future of the project.
Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons on July 30, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the previous Conservative government had left a £22bn “black hole” in public finances and that she had asked government departments to find £3.1bn in “efficiency savings.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology told DCD: “We are absolutely committed to building technology infrastructure that delivers growth and opportunity for people across the UK. The government is making difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments due to billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth.”
The spokesperson added: “We have launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan to identify how we can improve our computing infrastructure to better meet our needs and consider how AI and other emerging technologies can best support our new Industrial Strategy.”
Last month, the UK government announced plans to invest £100 million ($129m) to fund five new quantum research hubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford, and London.
