The UK Is Betting on a Billion-Dollar AI Supercomputer to Kick Its Addiction to US Tech

英国押注十亿美元打造 AI 超级计算机，旨在摆脱对美国技术的依赖

The UK government has laid out a $1.47 billion plan to shake its dependence on foreign-made artificial intelligence hardware. 英国政府已制定了一项价值 14.7 亿美元的计划，旨在摆脱对外国制造的人工智能硬件的依赖。

Under the measures, announced Monday, the UK will spend more than $1 billion on a national AI supercomputer. It will be stocked with $530 million worth of hardware, including $200 million that will go toward specialist inference chips for processing AI tasks. Priority will be given to up-and-coming British firms in the procurement process; the government pointed to Olix and Fractile, two UK startups developing new startups developing new styles of inference chip, as potential beneficiaries. British researchers and startups are expected to be able to use the supercomputer starting in 2030. 根据周一宣布的措施，英国将斥资超过 10 亿美元打造一台国家级 AI 超级计算机。该项目将配备价值 5.3 亿美元的硬件，其中包括 2 亿美元用于采购处理 AI 任务的专业推理芯片。在采购过程中，英国政府将优先考虑本土新兴企业；政府特别提到了正在开发新型推理芯片的英国初创公司 Olix 和 Fractile，称它们有望从中受益。预计英国的研究人员和初创公司最早将于 2030 年开始使用这台超级计算机。

The new measures are part of a broader effort by the UK government to minimize dependence on foreign powers for access to AI products and services—a move made more urgent by the apparent souring of the relationship between the US and its European counterparts. The European Union outlined a similar “tech sovereignty” proposal last week. This year, European leaders have found themselves in confrontation with the Trump administration over issues ranging from the sovereignty of Greenland to tariff policy to immigration, leading to speculation about a deterioration in the NATO alliance. Against that backdrop, a dependence on American technology could be a liability, wielded by the US against European countries as leverage. 这些新措施是英国政府为减少在 AI 产品和服务获取方面对外国势力依赖而采取的更广泛努力的一部分——由于美国与其欧洲盟友之间的关系明显恶化，这一举措显得愈发紧迫。欧盟上周也提出了类似的“技术主权”提案。今年，欧洲领导人在格陵兰岛主权、关税政策以及移民等一系列问题上与特朗普政府发生冲突，引发了人们对北约联盟关系恶化的猜测。在此背景下，对美国技术的依赖可能成为一种负担，甚至可能被美国当作对付欧洲国家的筹码。

“The geopolitical settlement of the last 40 years has ruptured—and many would argue is gone for good,” UK technology secretary Liz Kendall said during an April speech at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank. “For Britain, AI sovereignty is about reducing overdependencies and increasing resilience.” “过去 40 年的地缘政治格局已经破裂——许多人认为它已一去不复返了，”英国技术大臣莉兹·肯德尔（Liz Kendall）在四月份于国防与安全智库“皇家联合服务研究所”（RUSI）发表演讲时表示。“对于英国而言，AI 主权意味着减少过度依赖并增强韧性。”

“There are those who say this race is already lost—that it is too late to challenge the dominance of the US or China in AI chips—but I do not accept such defeatism,” she added. “有人说这场竞赛已经输了，认为现在挑战美国或中国在 AI 芯片领域的统治地位为时已晚，但我绝不接受这种失败主义，”她补充道。

Last November, the UK began to establish “AI growth zones,” regions across the country with fewer administrative and regulatory barriers to building data centers. In April, it launched a $675 million venture fund, SovAI, for investing in homegrown AI startups in fields ranging from model development to agentic AI to drug discovery. The supercomputer hardware plan is the latest piece of that expanding mosaic. 去年 11 月，英国开始建立“AI 增长区”，这些地区在建设数据中心方面拥有更少的行政和监管障碍。今年 4 月，英国推出了规模为 6.75 亿美元的风险投资基金 SovAI，用于投资从模型开发、智能体 AI 到药物研发等领域的本土 AI 初创公司。此次的超级计算机硬件计划正是这一不断扩大的战略版图中的最新一环。

Though the UK is home to prominent firms like ARM, whose chip architectures are ubiquitous across the globe, semiconductor design and manufacturing is otherwise dominated by American and Asian companies. By acting as a large customer to domestic chip startups, the UK government is aiming to both support their growth and incentivize them to remain in the country long-term. 尽管英国拥有 ARM 等知名企业，其芯片架构在全球范围内无处不在，但在半导体设计和制造领域，市场仍由美国和亚洲公司主导。通过充当本土芯片初创公司的大客户，英国政府旨在支持其发展，并激励它们长期留在国内。

“Historically, the UK government has just been impenetrable … the willingness to back UK businesses with innovative technologies with hard contracts is a really important milestone,” says Ed Bussey, CEO at Oxford Science Enterprises, a venture capital firm that participated in Fractile’s 2024 seed round. “If we can build out a procurement pipeline of revenues for these companies, it helps to anchor them here.” “从历史上看，英国政府一直让人难以捉摸……如今愿意通过实打实的合同来支持拥有创新技术的英国企业，这是一个非常重要的里程碑，”参与了 Fractile 2024 年种子轮融资的风险投资公司 Oxford Science Enterprises 的首席执行官埃德·巴西（Ed Bussey）表示。“如果我们能为这些公司建立起采购收入渠道，将有助于把它们留在英国。”

The changes unfolding in AI datacenter design—moving away from homogenous fleets of chips toward a mix of specialist hardware for different purposes—represent an opportunity for the UK to carve out a strategically important niche. AI 数据中心设计正在发生变革——从单一的芯片集群转向针对不同用途的专业硬件组合——这为英国开辟具有战略意义的利基市场提供了机会。

“You can’t do everything on your own, so you really have to be militant about what areas you want to specialize in,” says Keegan McBride, director of science and technology at the Tony Blair Institute, a think tank founded by the former UK prime minister. “The UK is playing a very smart game … If they get it right, there’s a massive opportunity. If other companies begin to depend on British chips, that gives you leverage.” “你不可能事事亲力亲为，所以你必须在想要专注的领域表现得非常激进，”由英国前首相创立的智库“托尼·布莱尔全球变化研究所”科学与技术主任基根·麦克布莱德（Keegan McBride）表示。“英国正在下一盘非常聪明的棋……如果他们做对了，将迎来巨大的机遇。如果其他公司开始依赖英国芯片，那你就掌握了筹码。”