Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade

AIRR Heterogeneous Supercomputer Host Site and Data Centre Grant Competition

A single government grant to build and run the data centre that will house the AI Research Resource (AIRR) Heterogeneous Supercomputer, part of a £750m national AI compute investment. It is for a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding, alone or leading a consortium that can include commercial co-location providers, with experience of running national-scale compute and building a data centre of comparable size. The facility must reach 10 MW of IT load by 31 March 2028 and 30 MW by 31 March 2029. The supercomputer hardware itself is bought separately; the indicative grant for the data centre is up to £180m.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £150,000,000 – £180,000,000
Closes in: 13 days left; 25 November
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

One award to a single lead applicant, alone or leading a consortium
On the closing date the lead must: be based in the UK with UK legal personality; be a research organisation eligible for UKRI funding (UK higher education institutions and public sector research establishments are invited); have verifiable experience of delivering, hosting or operating a high-value, large-scale compute service at national level for research or innovation users; have written institutional backing from its Vice-Chancellor, Chair, CEO or equivalent; be responsible for both data centre infrastructure and support services, directly or through named consortium partners; commit to the binding delivery milestones (10 MW energised by 31 March 2028 in the updated pack, 30 MW by 31 March 2029); hold written evidence of a DNO connection offer for the firm import capacity needed (assume at least 14 MVA for Phase 1 and 41 MVA for Phase 2 without calculations); and itself or through a named consortium member have delivered a data centre of comparable scale and complexity to time, quality and cost
Consortium members, including commercial co-location providers, must be UK-incorporated, operate in the UK and do most of their economic activity there, and must sign a memorandum of understanding before applying

What it funds

The design, construction or modification, commissioning and operation of the hosting facility, including:

Land and accommodation, including eligible dedicated co-location or lease arrangements
Power supply, electrical infrastructure, cooling and fire protection
Physical security, facility monitoring and building-management systems
Connectivity to Janet and other national research networks
Staff, maintenance and other eligible costs directly associated with delivering and operating the data centre

The competition covers capital and resource funding, as an initial grant securing the facility for both deployment phases and covering costs up to 31 March 2030. The guidance also lists site preparation, grid and network connections, professional services, electricity used by the facility (excluding the System), insurance and local taxes as eligible.

What it will not fund

The supercomputer hardware (compute, storage and interconnect), which BIST procures separately
Installation, integration, commissioning and acceptance of the System hardware and software
System-level services such as system administration, user support and research software engineering
Any compute, storage or networking beyond that needed to support the data centre infrastructure
Sites outside the UK
A cost of capital or return on assets funded by the grant
Co-location models with a rolling monthly, quarterly or annual charge (these will be rejected)

How to apply

Download the application pack from the Find a Grant page: cover letter, scope and evaluation criteria, draft grant funding agreement, financial and budget template, and applicant response form
Send clarification questions to compute@dsit.gov.uk, referencing the competition, by noon on 20 November 2026; answers are published on Find a Grant until 24 November
Complete the applicant response form, budget template and mandatory appendices
Email the completed documents to compute@dsit.gov.uk by noon on 25 November 2026 (the updated pack of 12 November says noon on 26 November)
Stage 1: pass/fail screening against every eligibility and mandatory requirement
Stage 2: scored by an independent panel on infrastructure readiness (25%), delivery capability (25%), value for money and affordability (30%) and strategic value (20%)
Stage 3: due diligence on the highest-scoring applicant, which may include dialogue, site visits and financial, legal, subsidy control, fraud and security checks

Signing the grant agreement is conditional on an accepted DNO/NESO connection offer, existing contracted capacity, or an executed contract for alternative supply. Total grant spending to 31 March 2030 must be under £200m to be judged affordable. To receive clarifications by email, ask compute@dsit.gov.uk to add you to the mailing list.

Have ready

Applicant response form (Document 5), within the stated word limits
Financial and budget template (Document 4), with full-risk and partial-risk pricing schedules
Appendix A: critical path project master schedule (Gantt chart or PDF)
Appendix B: DNO grid connection agreement or formal offer letter
Appendix C: site layout plan
Appendix D: organogram and key personnel CVs
Appendix E: completed Subsidy Control Act 2022 declaration form
Appendix F: completed conflict of interest form
Written institutional backing from the Vice-Chancellor, Chair, CEO or equivalent
Signed memorandum of understanding between all consortium members, where applying as a consortium

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