AI News Monitor

The British government unveiled plans on Tuesday to deepen its artificial intelligence collaboration with Europe, granting U.K. researchers access to the continent’s most advanced supercomputers in a bid to accelerate breakthroughs in healthcare, clean energy, and other critical fields.

The initiative, part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s broader “Plan for Change,” invites public research organizations to bid for the role of hosting a new “AI Factory Antenna” — a facility that would serve as Britain’s gateway to Europe’s high-performance computing networks. If approved, the project would link British scientists and startups to cutting-edge computational power, enabling them to develop more sophisticated AI models and shorten innovation cycles.

The move comes weeks after the U.K. secured a new agreement with the European Union, signaling a renewed effort to strengthen ties with the bloc in science and technology. Access to advanced computing resources — essential for training complex AI systems — has become a key priority for governments worldwide, as breakthroughs in fields like drug discovery and climate modeling increasingly depend on vast data-processing capabilities.

“Supercomputers are the turbo-chargers of discovery,” said Feryal Clark, Britain’s Minister for AI. “By strengthening our partnership with Europe, we’re giving British innovators the compute power to solve climate and health challenges, grow the economy, and deliver our Plan for Change.”

The selected British institution will partner with one of Europe’s designated “AI Factories” — specialized hubs that combine supercomputing resources with data and training support. The project could receive up to €5 million ($5.4 million) in funding through EuroHPC, the EU’s high-performance computing initiative.

The announcement builds on Britain’s broader push to expand its AI infrastructure. Since last July, the U.K. has attracted £44 billion ($56 billion) in data center investments, and the government is set to designate new “AI Growth Zones” this summer to spur private-sector development. A long-term “Compute Strategy,” expected later this year, aims to increase the nation’s processing capacity twentyfold over the next decade.

Officials say the collaboration will not only advance research but also reinforce Britain’s role as a global AI leader — one that can compete with the U.S. and China while maintaining strong ties with European partners.

“This is about more than faster processing,” Clark said. “It’s about putting the U.K. at the forefront of global AI.”