UK cancels two computing infrastructure projects for AI support worth $1.3 billion, to prioritise other fiscal plans

The United Kingdom has dropped two taxpayer funded $1.7 billion (£1.3 billion) worth of computing infrastructure projects (£500 million and £800 million, respectively), to prioritise other fiscal plans, CNBC reported, citing a government spokesperson.

The first project worth £500 million was promised to the AI Research Resource by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government in 2023, it added. While the second project worth £800 million commitment was for the building of a next-generation exascale computer at the University of Edinburgh. Commissioned in 2023, it aimed to be able to perform 1 trillion calculations a second, the report said.

Together the initiatives aimed to build infrastructure capable of running advanced artificial intelligence models. Such AI models are typically, power intensive and require loads of traning data, it noted.

New Govt, New Plans

The report said that in an email, a spokersperson for the UK's Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), confirmed that both these projects have now been cancelled.

“We are absolutely committed to building technology infrastructure that delivers growth and opportunity for people across the UK. The government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth,” the DSIT spokesperson said.

Spending in Focus

In 2023, the then Conservative Party-led UK government had announced an ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’ to identify how the country could boost its computing infra to better adapt to AI and other emerging tech.

However, earlier this week British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced spending cuts and said the current Labour government had inherited around $28 billion (£22 billion) of unfunded pledges from the predecessor.

The former centre-right government had made AI a priority and said legislation would restrict innovation, while present Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration is considering in new statutory regulations for the AI industry, the report added.

Notably, King Charles III was expected to announce the UK's first AI Bill in a speech last month, but this did not happen. Instead, a DSIT spokesperson told CNBC they "would consult on plans to regulate AI in due course".