The UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has invited public research organizations to apply to host an “AI factory antenna” that would see it linked to an established European AI supercomputer.

According to the details in the expression of interest call, a successful applicant would be endorsed by the UK government to put themselves forward for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking’s (EuroHPC JU) call for proposals for antennas.

EuroHPC JU is a joint initiative between the European Union, 35 European countries, and private partners to develop a supercomputing ecosystem in Europe.

First announced in April 2024, the antennas will work in coordination with the AI supercomputers, with each antenna supporting an established system from its respective country, “extending and complementing” services and ensuring “remote computing access to AI-optimized supercomputing resources from the linked AI factory.”

Where relevant, an antenna will also provide small-scale AI compute resources for the fine-tuning, testing, and validation of AI applications.

The EuroHPC JU will fund up to €5 million ($5.6m) in matched funding over three years to successful antenna applications, with the UK government pledging to provide up to £2.5 million ($3.4m) of grant funding to the applicant, conditional on the success of the application.

The deadline for proposals is July 9, 2025.

The UK joined the EuroHPC JU in May 2024. The agreement allows British researchers and scientists to apply for Horizon Europe-funded research and innovation calls relating to supercomputing, in addition to granting them access to EuroHPC JU supercomputers and enabling them to benefit from projects funded by Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation funding program.

In February 2025, the UK government announced it is committing £7.8 million ($8.7m) to fund UK participation in EuroHPC research. A month prior, the government announced plans to build a new supercomputer with “enough AI power to play itself at chess half a million times a second,” despite having previously canceled plans to build the UK's first exascale supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh.