UK’s Compute Roadmap will harness AI to develop medical cures

The UK’s compute infrastructure will be increased to deliver the processing power needed for AI to help develop new medical cures, the government has announced. 

A Compute Roadmap, published on 17 July 2025, will deliver on the £1bn set aside in the spending review to increase the UK’s compute infrastructure, reducing reliance on foreign computing power.

Businesses and researchers use compute – the computer chips that process huge amounts of data – to train and build AI models or process prompts and questions through AI to make discoveries, such as new drugs and tools to tackle climate change. 

Peter Kyle, science and technology secretary, turned on the Isambard supercomputer in Bristol on 18 July 2025, launching the AI Research Resource (AIRR), which is planned to transform the UK’s public compute capacity.

University College London researchers are using Isambard to line up AI tools which could revolutionise NHS cancer screening. 

Using prostate cancer as its initial test case, they are harnessing the system to develop one of the first scalable AI models dedicated to medical imaging – using AI to analyse MRI scans and identify patients in need of treatment sooner.  

Kyle said: “Britain has top of the class talent in AI and our plan will put a rocket under our brilliant researchers, scientists, and engineers – giving them the tools they need to make Britain the best place to do their work.

“This will mean we can harness the technology in Britain to transform our public services, drive growth, and unlock new opportunities for every community in the country.”

Demand for cutting-edge compute power is already expected to surge by 5.7x between now and 2035, with the government taking steps to ensure the UK can stay ahead of the curve as the technology develops.  

When the AIRR’s planned expansion is complete in the coming years, it is expected to be vastly more powerful than the world’s current leading supercomputers. 

Working alongside the AIRR, a network of National Supercomputing Centres will be set up across the country – with the first based in Edinburgh, the future home of the UK’s most powerful research supercomputer. 

These are planned to work as dedicated centres of expertise, connecting users with access to cutting-edge processing power and catalysing greater collaboration between industry, academia, and researchers. 

Kyle also announced the launch of dedicated AI for Science strategy which will be published in Autumn 2025.

This will set out the steps the government will take to cement the UK’s position as a global leader in AI-enabled science breakthroughs, explore ways to boost adoption of the technology across the science sector and spark new commercial opportunities created by AI for science. 

Meanwhile in January 2025, Sir Keir Starmer, prime minister, announced the launch of the AI Opportunities Action Plan, which he said would “make our country an AI superpower”.

It included proposals for the UK to invest in a supercomputer to boost computing power and a national data library to gather data held by the public sector, including anonymised health data, to support AI research and innovation.