Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government commits up to £3.5 billion to future of tech and science, published on 16 March 2023, how much of the £900 million of funding for a new exascale supercomputer has been allocated.

The funding announced at the Spring Budget 2023, supports DSIT to deliver on the Government’s key science and technology priorities, this includes investing £900 million in an Exascale supercomputer and AI Research Resource (AIRR) to enhance the UK’s Compute capabilities. HMG also confirmed additional investment for the AIRR project and established Isambard AI which will be operational later this year.

Since the Spring Budget announcement, HMG announced Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) as the preferred site to host exascale. More details around the project will be announced once decisions around procurement have been confirmed.