UK AI Factory Antenna: Pilot-UKAIFA

EPCC has been central to supercomputing in the UK for over 30 years, with our activities broadening in the last decade to include data science and AI. Now designated a UK National Supercomputing Centre, we remain firmly committed to our founding principle to accelerate the effective exploitation of novel computing throughout industry, academia and commerce.

AI Factories and Antennas 

AI Factories and Antennas are being established across Europe as part of a coordinated effort to strengthen artificial intelligence capability. They act as centres for innovation and collaboration by bringing together: 

• High performance computing resources 

• Data and digital infrastructure 

• Academic, industry, and public sector expertise. 

Their aim is to support the development of advanced AI models and applications across sectors including health, manufacturing, climate science, finance, and space. 

UK AI Factory Antenna: Pilot-UKAIFA 

In 2025 EPCC was selected by the UK Government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to be the UK's bid to be an AI Factory Antenna, under the EuroHPC AI Factory and AI Factory Antenna programme. 

The UK AI Factory Antenna (Pilot-UKAIFA) is a €10 million (£8.6 million) project and one of thirteen Antenna initiatives across Europe. These projects complement the European AI Factories, which provide large scale, AI focused supercomputing infrastructure. 

Pilot-UKAIFA is led by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. It is delivered by EPCC in partnership with the HammerHAI AI Factory, coordinated by HLRS, the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart, together with a consortium of German research centres.

Our Approach 

Pilot-UKAIFA will support organisations through: 

• Workshops and regional roadshows 

• Targeted calls for participation 

• Consultancy and application design projects. 

These activities enable organisations to take part in Endeavours — projects that apply AI within a specific operational context. Endeavours can make use of: 

• EPCC’s Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF) 

• Access pathways to European AI Factory resources. 

Support is complemented by training, knowledge exchange activities, and collaboration with UK and European AI competency centres.

Responsible, Trustworthy AI

Building communities and capability

Engagement with organisations, stakeholders, and communities will be delivered through workshops and roadshows, targeted calls for participants, and direct consultancy and design projects.This will be supported by a comprehensive training programme, knowledge-exchange activities, and collaboration with UK and European resource providers and competency centres.

Delivery

The project will be delivered through six core elements:

• Talent development – expanding access to AIand data training for companies and the public sector.

• Ecosystem development – connecting UK practitioners through events and collaborative project opportunities. 

• Adoption – supporting new AI users with targeted guidance and access to UK/EU expertise and resources. 

• Datasets – growing the EIDF data catalogue and related services, aligned with regional and national initiatives. 

• Entrepreneurship – sharing best practice in AI innovation and venture development across the UK. 

• Scale – enabling access to large-scale AI compute for model training via HammerHAI and other EuroHPC resources.

Pilot UKAIFA A4 flyer