Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the timely delivery of the national Compute Strategy; and whether she plans to publish an updated timeline ahead of Spring 2025.

Expanding the UK’s compute capability is essential for the development and adoption of AI, scientific research, and improving public services. DSIT and UKRI are taking forward the development of the AI Research Resource, a network of supercomputers, currently consisting of Isambard-AI, in Bristol, and Dawn, in Cambridge, which will be fully operational by the summer. When this capacity is live, it will increase the UK’s existing public compute capacity by thirty times.

In response to the AI Opportunities Action Plan, we have also committed to expand the AI Research Resource (AIRR) by a further 20 times by 2030, and to publish a long-term compute strategy.