「No AI Same Mistake Again」: UK Puts £1 Billion Bet on Quantum Computing to Retain Talent

According to 1M AI News monitoring, the UK government has announced a £1 billion investment to fund businesses designing large-scale quantum computers for research, public sector, and commercial applications, aiming to establish a domestic cutting-edge quantum computer in the early next decade. An additional £1 billion previously announced will be used to support the practical applications of quantum technology in finance, pharmaceuticals, energy, and other fields.

Secretary of State for Technology Liz Kendall stated at the UK's National Quantum Computing Centre near Oxford that the UK must learn from the AI race, retaining domestic quantum startups, engineers, and researchers instead of seeing them drain to the US. "Too many feel they have to go to America to get the financing they need to grow and scale," she said. Kendall cited the example of DeepMind's acquisition by Google in 2014 for £400 million, highlighting that while the UK is a powerhouse of AI talent, most major AI businesses are UK branches of US companies. The UK has nurtured a group of quantum startups, with the UK-US joint venture company Quantinuum recently valued at $100 billion.