Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, over what period Isambard-AI hardware is being depreciated in the accounts of the University of Bristol and UKRI; and what plan exists for its replacement or refresh.

Isambard-AI is hosted and owned by the University of Bristol. As the asset is controlled by the University, the Department and UKRI are not responsible for the accounting treatment applied to it. Hewlett Packard Enterprise provides support for Isambard-AI until 3 September 2030. Their contract extends beyond this date to cover the decommissioning of the system. No date has been set for this.

The Compute Roadmap sets out the Government’s long-term strategy for ensuring the UK has sufficient public AI compute capability. Decisions on future investment, including the refresh or replacement of existing capability, will be considered in due course.