Written question asked by Julia Lopez (Conservative) on Tuesday, 21 April 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 April 2026 (named day). It was answered by Kanishka Narayan (Labour) on Monday, 27 April 2026 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Artificial Intelligence: Research
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the volume of compute capacity was at (i) the Isambard-AI and (ii) Dawn AI Research Resource clusters in July 2024, July 2025 and April 2026.
- Answer
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We are investing up to £2 billion in public compute infrastructure until 2030. This will deliver a new national supercomputer in Edinburgh and expand our AI Research Resource (AIRR) twentyfold by 2030. The volume of compute capacity at the AIRR’s two supercomputing clusters at the specified points in time was as follows:
July 2024: Neither the Isambard‑AI cluster in Bristol nor the Dawn cluster in Cambridge was fully operational at this point. Isambard‑AI remained under construction. Dawn was not yet publicly operational, although a limited early access environment was available using around 400 Intel AI accelerator chips to support early users and system commissioning.
July 2025: The AIRR was launched and became operational. Isambard‑AI comprised approximately 5,448 NVIDIA AI accelerator chips, forming the UK’s flagship national AI supercomputer. Dawn comprised approximately 1,024 Intel AI accelerator chips, providing complementary AI‑optimised compute capability.
April 2026: Isambard‑AI continued to operate with approximately 5,448 NVIDIA AI accelerator chips, unchanged from launch. Dawn continued to operate with approximately 1,024 Intel AI accelerator chips.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 128826
- Session
- 2024-26
- Related items
- Subjects
- Computers Infrastructure Research Artificial intelligence
- Contains statistics
- Yes
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-06-05 14:49:48 +0100
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- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/128826
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