The UK government has announced a £36 million investment to expand the University of Cambridge’s AI Research Resource, increasing the capacity of its DAWN supercomputer sixfold by spring 2026. The funding, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology under AI Minister Kanishka Narayan, will provide UK researchers and start-ups with free access to significantly more advanced AI compute.
The upgrade introduces AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs integrated by Dell Technologies, supported by a UK-developed software stack from StackHPC. The expanded system will strengthen national AI capability across healthcare, climate modelling, and public services, reinforcing Cambridge’s role in the Oxford–Cambridge innovation corridor and advancing the government’s wider £2 billion public compute strategy to build sovereign, resilient AI infrastructure.
