The UK government will invest £100 million in an effort to establish the country as a contender in the race to create the computer chips that will fuel artificial intelligence innovation.
The taxpayer money will be utilized in an effort to create a national AI resource in Britain that is comparable to those being developed in the US and other countries. It is anticipated that funds will be used to place orders with significant semiconductor manufacturers Nvidia, AMD, and Intel for essential parts.
An official who was briefed on the plans, however, told that the government’s offer of £100 million is much too low when compared to investments made by competitors in the US, China, and the EU. The official confirmed that the government is in the advanced stages of placing an order for up to 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia, a move that was originally reported by the Telegraph.
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Nvidia first built processing units for video games, and has now experienced a significant rise in value as the artificial intelligence competition has intensified. It is because its chips run ChatGPT and other leading large language models. GPUs, often known as graphics cards, are a crucial component of chips’ processing power and are in much demand.
In comparison to the US’s $52 billion Chips Act and the EU’s €43 billion in subsidies, Rishi Sunak’s government announced intentions to invest £1 billion over 10 years in semiconductor research, design, and production in May. In the face of escalating geopolitical tensions over AI chip technology, there is a fear that a halt in development brought on by comparatively poor investment may leave the UK vulnerable.
