Britain boosts computing power in $1.3 billion AI drive
The race to develop AI is intensifying, with the United States, China and India emerging as front runners, putting pressure on Europe to make up lost ground.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the funding at London Tech Week last month, where he shared the stage with Nvidia's chief executive Jensen Huang.
The tech leader said Britain needed to boost its computing infrastructure to deliver the full potential of its leading artificial intelligence research base.
The government said on Thursday it would bring together the country's most powerful supercomputers – Isambard-AI based in Bristol and Dawn in Cambridge - in an AI Research Resource (AIRR) system, delivered with partners including Nvidia, HPE, Dell Technologies and Intel.
Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, launched the Isambard supercomputer on Thursday.
"Britain has top of the class talent in AI and our plan will put a rocket under our brilliant researchers, scientists, and engineers – giving them the tools they need to make Britain the best place to do their work," he said.
University College London researchers are already using the supercomputer to line up pioneering AI tools which could revolutionise cancer screening in the National Health Service, the government said.
Using prostate cancer as its initial test case, they are developing one of the first scalable AI models dedicated to medical imaging - using AI to analyse MRI scans and identify patients in need of treatment sooner, it said.
Working alongside the AI Research Resource, Britain said it was also setting up a network of National Supercomputing Centres, with the first based in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, Germany wants AI to drive 10% of its economic output by 2030 and make AI an important tool in central fields of research, according to a document seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
($1 = 0.7460 pounds)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Report – Inter Milan Ready To Raise Offer For Atalanta Talisman To €45M
Inter Milan are reportedly ready to raise their offer to sign Atalanta and Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman to €45 million. This according to the Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews. Inter have already had one offer for Ademola Lookman rejected. Last week, the Nerazzurri put a bid of around €40 million on the table for the Nigerian international. They hoped that this would be enough to quickly seal a deal. However, Atalanta rejected this first offer. Reportedly, La Dea are holding out for somewhere in the region of €50 million. Inter Milan To Increase Ademola Lookman Offer To €45M BERGAMO, ITALY – MAY 12: Ademola Lookman of Atalanta warms up prior to the Serie A match between Atalanta and AS Roma at Gewiss Stadium on May 12, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by) Atalanta's rejection has not deterred Inter, however. This coming week, the Nerazzurri will make an improved offer. According to the Corriere dello Sport, this new offer will arrive by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. Inter's intention is to wrap things up as soon as possible. They do not want their pursuit of Lookman to turn into a long transfer soap opera that goes on for much of August. Therefore, Inter will present a new offer worth around €45 million, according to the Corriere dello Sport.
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fabrizio Romano: Everton in ‘advanced talks' to hijack Liverpool's move for €50m forward
Everton Target Malick Fofana in Bid to Boost Attacking Options Advanced Talks Underway for Belgian Talent Everton are pressing forward in their pursuit of Olympique Lyonnais winger Malick Fofana, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. Talks are now at an advanced stage, with direct contact established between the Toffees and the French club over a potential summer move. The 20-year-old Belgian international appears poised to leave Lyon this window, as the club navigates financial pressures following their reinstatement to Ligue 1 by the DNCG. Fofana, who has already attracted interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich, is one of Lyon's more valuable assets and now sits firmly on Everton's radar. The Merseyside club are looking to bolster their wide options and see the versatile attacker as a key addition ahead of the new Premier League campaign. Relegation Reversal Spurs Lyon Fire Sale Lyon's financial constraints have become a central theme of their summer business. The club's reprieve from relegation came with strict conditions from the DNCG, requiring them to raise funds through player sales. Fofana, whose development at OL has not gone unnoticed across Europe, now finds himself at the centre of a transfer tug-of-war. Personal Terms and Player Preference Still Pending While Everton have established contact with Fofana's representatives, personal terms are yet to be finalised. A fee had reportedly been agreed between Lyon and Nottingham Forest earlier this window, but Fofana declined the move. His willingness to join Everton remains uncertain. The Toffees now face a crucial period in convincing the player of their project, especially with clubs like Liverpool and Bayern also showing interest. Strategic Move or Risky Gamble? At just 20 years of age, Fofana would represent both a long-term investment and a potential game-changer for David Moyes' side. Everton are in urgent need of pace and creativity in wide areas – two qualities the Belgian has shown in flashes during his time in Ligue 1 and on the European stage. Whether they can land their man may depend on how compelling a pitch they present in the coming days. Our View – EPL Index Analysis From an Everton fan's point of view, the move for Malick Fofana feels like a bold but sensible step toward modernising a squad that's cried out for dynamism. The club has lacked real flair on the flanks since Richarlison's departure, and Fofana, with his ability to beat players and break lines, could be the injection of energy needed. However, there are understandable reservations. Fofana is young, largely unproven in top-flight football outside of France, and might need time to adapt to the physicality of the Premier League. Fans will remember past gambles on potential – names like Moise Kean and Jean-Philippe Gbamin – which didn't quite work out. That said, this feels like a different scenario. Fofana turned down Forest, which suggests he's making decisions based on football, not finances. There's also the question of whether David Moyes can fully utilise a player like Fofana, who thrives in a more expansive system. Moyes' teams often lean on structure over flair, but with the club aiming to progress, perhaps this is a sign of stylistic evolution. If Everton can seal the deal and give him the platform to grow, it could be one of the smarter deals of the summer. But if he opts for a club like Bayern or Liverpool, fans will understand – and perhaps rue – another opportunity missed.


Forbes
10 minutes ago
- Forbes
How Higher Ed Can Operationalize The AI Action Plan With Agentic AI
Rear view of two university students walk down campus stairs at sunset The federal government's new AI Action Plan makes one thing clear: Artificial intelligence is national infrastructure. With over $13 billion authorized for AI-related education and workforce development through CHIPS & Science, and more than $490 million in core AI research funding in the NSF pipeline for 2025 alone, the question facing colleges and universities is not whether to engage with agentic AI—it's how. And how fast. What many institutions still lack isn't ambition; it's operational capacity. The ability to move from a strategy document to a deliverable. From a pilot idea to a fundable, scalable program. That's where agentic workflows come in. Agentic workflows are multi-step, semi-autonomous processes designed to operate under institutional oversight. They take in complex data, make decisions, and act. And they're already transforming the potential for higher education to public policy, funding opportunities, and internal innovation goals. Here are three workflows I believe every forward-looking institution can implement to meet the moment. Building AI Infrastructure: The Agentic AI Readiness Mapper If your institution wants to get ahead in the era of AI-driven growth, now is the time to start mapping your college-to-career pipeline. For example, the U.S. is projected to face a shortage of nearly 67,000 skilled semiconductor workers by 2030—a gap that colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to help close. The CHIPS & Science Act is clear in its expectations: Funding will flow to those who can show evidence-based plans for talent development. That means building live, data-informed roadmaps that align education with the future of work. Maricopa Community Colleges offer one model. They launched a 10-day 'Semiconductor Technician Quick-Start' boot camp and secured $1.7 million from the National Semiconductor Technology Center to expand that effort across four campuses. They didn't wait for a perfect curriculum—they partnered with industry, moved quickly, and aligned their messaging with what the federal government wants. An AI Infrastructure Mapper automates the front-end of this process. It scans course catalogs, labor market data, and physical infrastructure to identify where talent pipelines exist and where they need to be built. And it translates that into a funding narrative. These workflows generate the backbone for grant proposals, program design, and workforce planning. Competing For Federal Funding: The Agentic AI Grant Alignment Advisor Institutions don't lose grants because their ideas are bad. They lose because they're not speaking the language of the solicitation. As someone who's reviewed and advised on college applications, I can tell you: Alignment is everything. That's what makes an agentic Grant Alignment Advisor such a game-changer. It can continuously scans RFPs across federal agencies—NSF, Department of Labor, Department of Education—and match solicitations to existing institutional initiatives. It rewrites objectives, fills in gaps, and ensures the proposal mirrors the values and language of the funder. We've already seen the power of grant making in action at institutions like UMass Lowell, which funded over 30 AI mini-grants for faculty to experiment with GenAI tools across disciplines. By lowering the barrier to internal proposal writing and aligning project goals with broader institutional strategy, they created a feedback loop: Fundable ideas became test beds for larger-scale grant applications. The same logic can—and should—be applied across the enterprise. Embedding Ethics At Scale: The Responsible Agentic AI Course Co-Designer The 2025 Corporate Recruiters Survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council—based on responses from over 1,100 employers, including many Fortune 500 firms—shows that AI fluency, especially when paired with ethical reasoning, is the most sought-after skill for the next five years. To stay relevant and empower students for this future, academic programs must go beyond teaching how to use AI tools—they must also help students critically evaluate, manage, and make judgments about their capabilities. We're seeing institutions like the University of Louisiana System take the lead here. They launched a 16-hour AI literacy microcredential available to all 82,000 students and staff. It integrates AI fluency with ethics, including bias, privacy, accountability. That's intentional and smart. An agentic Course Co-Designer accelerates this process. It crosswalks global AI ethics frameworks—from NIST to OECD—and suggests course structures, assessments, and case studies that align with them. It flags outdated materials. It iterates as the frameworks evolve. It takes what would be a six-month curriculum design sprint and gets it 80% of the way there in a day. And most importantly, it ensures that institutions are building AI capacity responsibly—not just reactively. Higher education often spends more time analyzing problems than solving them. But with AI, and the capabilities of agentic AI, we don't have that luxury. The AI Action Plan comes with real funding, active policy momentum, and fast-rising expectations from government, employers, and students alike. It's time to move from reflection to action.