A quantum quandary for the UK government

This report is from the UK exchange newsletter for this week. Every Wednesday, Ian King brings you experts about the most important working stories from the United Kingdom and the main characters that make up news. The newsletter will also shed light on other major developments in the UK that you will not want to miss, as well as a preview of the basic events that are set for surfing. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

She was not climbing to deprive millions of retirees. U. It was announced by Rachel Reeves, Treasury Adviser in the United Kingdom, this month.

The advertisement was less importantly important, but it was much more important to the long -term growth capabilities in the United Kingdom, on June 10 that the government will adhere to 750 million pounds (one billion dollars) for a new extraordinary action in Edinburgh.

The news reflected a former decision, days after the work government was elected in July last year, to withdraw about 800 million pounds of funding for the project announced by the administration of former Prime Minister Rishi Sonak in 2023. Edinburgh has already spent an estimated £ 30 million in computers, where there was an estimated computers, where there were two computers at one time, where there were two Japanese computers , Where there were two Japanese computers, where exagantantants was in two computer. Building them, it will leave Britain behind its peers.

The timing of turn was not coincidental.

Just two days later, to celebrate the beginning of the Technology Week in London, Prime Minister Kiir Starmer Share a platform with Jensen HuangNvidia founder and CEO, both of whom have eagerly spoke about the strength of artificial intelligence to transform life.

During the session, though, Huang had a flagrant warning to the United Kingdom

He said: “The United Kingdom has one of the richest societies of artificial intelligence anywhere on the planet. The deepest thinkers, the best universities in Oxford, Cambridge, the Imperial College, the amazing emerging companies such as Deepmind, Wayve, Synthesia, and an incredible research community.”

“It is just one thing. This is the largest environment for Amnesty International in the world without its own infrastructure.”

The cyclone will say that the Huang message – the chips maker urges more investment in the infrastructure that requires chips – does not look different from the stock market broker that urges customers to buy shares.

However, it is unreasonable that the government was not aware of it in advance. Edinburgh SuperCanter’s funding indicates that the message that fell with Starmer and REEVES.

However, the UK technology sector faces other challenges. One of them is that startups in the UK are behind their American and Chinese peers in the amounts they raise from investment capital. This, likely, is a great amount of weakness, in the long run, such as a deficiency in the computing infrastructure of artificial intelligence.

However, the broader anxiety is that the UK may lose momentum in quantum computing, which is the revolutionary way to process information faster than classic computing.

You only need to climb A40 Trunk Road, on the same day that Starmer was on stage with Huang, starting Amanum hardware Oxford INICS, a cross show from Oxford University, He agreed to acquire $ 1.1 billion by IonQ, based in Marceland.

The sale was revived the concerns, which were first offered when DeepMind was purchased starting by Google in 2014, and that the UK is nothing more than a “incubator”, as companies are born before their scope is expanded elsewhere.

“I am really sorry for losing to the United Kingdom as a British company, even if, under a new property, continues to work here.”.

“What we saw this week is another example of the disturbing direction,” she added.

There are fears that other companies will follow in space.

“this [takeover] It is a reflection of the quality of the first degree of research and development in the United Kingdom, which has been built on contracts of general financing, but also an example will be closely monitored by other quantitative companies that seek to obtain the capital and opportunities that it can find in the United Kingdom, “Ashley Montanaro, co -founder and executive director of Phasecraft, in an article in the field of British technology.

“There is already more general funding for quantum companies in the United States than the United Kingdom, more fellowships, more grants and federal and state contracts, and more support to expand and publish.”

“Even with the president [Donald] In the end, he added, in the end, in the end, many of our peers joined us at the opening of laboratories abroad to reach such support, knowledge and capital.

He pointed to the delay in the implementation of the national quantity strategy in the United Kingdom, which was announced two years ago, and pointed out that there would be no new government funding for quantum computing projects until fall.

“Once talent, capital and momentum go to another place, they rarely return.”

The newly discovered UK government’s passion for superolo computers that will help operate the artificial intelligence revolution is intimate. But artificial intelligence is only one part of the ecological system of technology in the UK and anxiety should be that in areas such as quantum computing, it is in a real danger of knees.

Sides

Meanwhile, although Starmer and his ministers seem to see now they are a force that is not forever, others may differ.

This week, in a rare interview, Alison Kirkbe, CEO of BT, told the company’s company. Lower more than 40,000 jobs And stripping costs of 3 billion pounds by the end of the contract, “did not reflect the full potential of Amnesty International.”

She told the newspaper: “Based on what we learn from artificial intelligence … there may be a chance for BT to be smaller by the end of the contract.”

Most of the jobs expected to be subject to the current plans are those that were specifically appointed to build the BT fiber network, whose roles became excessive as soon as the project was completed.

There are possibilities that in this case, Kirkby was referring to BT communication centers, which employ thousands of people in sites including Pleimmouth, Greenok and North Tendaide, as well as the company’s human resources functions.

Starmer and its colleagues may need to persuade the public-and to support their traditional party in the unions in particular-that artificial intelligence is a power for good rather than just reducing costs.

Ian King