Business

UK semiconductor start-up Fractile has announced a £100 million expansion of its British operations, scaling up in London and Bristol as ministers intensify calls for greater domestic ownership of critical artificial intelligence technology.

The investment, to be deployed over the next three years, will fund a new industrial hardware engineering facility in Bristol, alongside the expansion of Fractile’s existing UK sites and a significant increase in its domestic workforce.

The company is focused on developing AI chips optimised for inference, the stage at which large language models generate outputs, an area of growing strategic importance as demand for real-time AI applications accelerates.

Engineers at the new Bristol facility will work on integrating Fractile’s chips into full AI systems and will operate a specialist software testing lab, allowing the company to develop and validate hardware and software in tandem.

The announcement comes as Kanishka Narayan, the government’s AI minister, prepares to urge Britain’s technology founders and investors to “embrace risk” and back home-grown innovation in a speech to the UK’s AI sector. He is expected to stress that British ownership of foundational technologies will be critical if the UK is to shape the future direction of AI.

Founded in 2022, Fractile is developing in-memory computing chips designed to run powerful AI models faster and with significantly lower energy consumption than conventional hardware. The market for AI inference chips is currently dominated by Nvidia, but is increasingly attracting start-ups and hyperscalers seeking more efficient and lower-cost alternatives.

Fractile is backed by the NATO Innovation Fund and has raised more than $35 million (£25.5 million) to date. The company says its technology could dramatically reduce both the cost and power required to run large AI models, an increasingly pressing constraint as data centre demand surges globally.

The expansion is being viewed as a vote of confidence in the UK’s ambitions to build a domestic AI hardware ecosystem, alongside continued investment in software, data and infrastructure. Ministers have identified “sovereign” computing capacity as a national priority, amid rising concerns over supply chains, ownership and national security.

Fractile said the £100 million commitment underlined its long-term intention to build and scale advanced semiconductor hardware on home soil, as scrutiny intensifies across the UK tech sector over who controls critical digital infrastructure.

The move follows a strong year for government-backed AI initiatives, with tens of billions of pounds of private capital pledged to UK AI projects and thousands of jobs expected to be created under the government’s year-old AI Opportunities Action Plan.

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Fractile commits £100m UK expansion as it ramps up AI chip development

London-based energy technology company Tem has raised $75 million in fresh funding as it looks to expand internationally and accelerate the rollout of its AI-driven platform designed to cut business electricity bills by up to 30 per cent.

The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and is understood to value the four-year-old company at around $300 million. Tem plans to use the capital to further develop its technology and scale its operations in the US.

Founded in 2021, Tem has built a platform it calls “Red”, described by the company as a neo-utility that uses artificial intelligence to match electricity supply and demand directly, bypassing the wholesale market and its multiple intermediaries.

Joe McDonald, Tem’s co-founder and chief executive, said the aim was to remove what he described as unnecessary “middle men” from the energy system. “We calculate that about $1 trillion is taken out every year in transaction fees by ‘Big Energy’,” he said. “Our mission is to take that cost of transaction down to zero.”

Tem’s software is already being used by around 2,600 businesses, including Boohoo and Fever-Tree, to reduce electricity costs. Since launching Red in November 2024, the company says it has saved customers $35 million in energy bills. Two schools have also signed up, with one saving £55,000 a year, according to Tem.

McDonald said the inefficiencies of the current system made disruption inevitable. “I don’t see why every single electricity transaction won’t be run by infrastructure like ours over the next ten years,” he said. “There is too much inefficiency in the outdated process that 99 per cent of transactions currently rely on.”

Tem was founded by a team of energy specialists including Jason Stocks, Bartlomiej Szostek, Ross Mackay and McDonald. The latest raise takes total funding to $94 million, with existing investors including Hitachi Ventures and Atomico.

McDonald said Red had been launched partly to demonstrate what Tem’s technology could achieve. Over the longer term, the company plans to license its platform to utilities globally to reduce their cost per transaction. Two utilities are already using the software, although Tem has declined to name them.

“At the heart of the problem is the energy transaction itself,” McDonald said. “If I’m a business buying electricity, I’m typically paying 25 to 30 per cent more than the cost at which it’s generated. That’s because the transaction passes through up to seven intermediaries, each taking a cut.”

Tem says it has facilitated around two terawatt hours of electricity transactions so far, roughly equivalent to powering Liverpool for a year. Its Red service is run by two AI agents supported by a team of just four people.

“A traditional utility would need around 170 staff to serve the same number of customers,” McDonald said. “That shows how technology infrastructure can transform efficiency, while also improving the customer experience.”

With energy costs still a major concern for UK and international businesses, Tem is betting that AI-driven infrastructure, rather than incremental reform, will reshape how electricity is bought and sold.

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AI energy start-up Tem raises $75m to cut business power bills

Apple and Google have agreed to make changes to their UK app stores following intervention by the country’s competition watchdog, after it concluded the two firms hold an “effective duopoly” over the sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tech giants have committed to a series of measures designed to improve transparency and competition. These include pledges not to give preferential treatment to their own apps and to be clearer about how third-party apps are reviewed and approved for sale.

The commitments come seven months after the CMA warned that Apple and Google’s dominance of mobile app distribution in the UK was stifling competition. In October 2025, the regulator formally designated both companies’ app stores as having “strategic market status”, giving it enhanced powers to demand changes under the UK’s new digital competition regime.

Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said the agreements marked an important milestone. “These proposed commitments will boost the UK’s app economy and are the first of many measures,” she said. “The ability to secure immediate commitments from Apple and Google reflects the unique flexibility of the UK’s digital markets competition regime and offers a practical route to swiftly address the concerns we’ve identified.”

As part of the deal, both companies have also agreed not to use data collected from third-party app developers in ways the regulator considers unfair. Cardell described the changes as “important first steps”, adding that the CMA would continue working with the companies on further remedies.

The watchdog said it would “closely monitor” implementation and would not hesitate to impose legally binding requirements if the commitments were not honoured.

Both companies welcomed the outcome. Apple said it faced “fierce competition in every market where we operate” and that it was committed to delivering the best possible products and user experience. Google said it believed its existing practices on the Play Store were already fair and transparent, but added that it “welcomes the opportunity to resolve the CMA’s concerns collaboratively”.

Analysts cautioned that the agreement may not be the final word. Paolo Pescatore, a technology analyst, described the move as a “pragmatic first step” but said some critics would view it as tackling “low-hanging fruit”. “There will inevitably be calls for a tougher clampdown from some quarters,” he said.

The CMA said the UK app economy is the largest in Europe by revenue and number of developers, generating an estimated 1.5 per cent of UK GDP and supporting around 400,000 jobs.

Both Apple and Google have previously warned against the UK adopting rules similar to those in the European Union, where large online platforms designated as “gatekeepers” face sweeping obligations. Apple has already been forced in the EU to introduce changes such as offering users a choice of default browser, and has argued that some requirements undermine privacy and security.

Apple said the UK commitments reflected its “constructive engagement” with the CMA and a more pragmatic approach to regulation — but the regulator has made clear that further intervention remains on the table if competition concerns persist.

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Apple and Google agree UK app store changes after ‘effective duopoly’ ruling

UK government borrowing costs climbed on Monday as markets reacted to intensifying pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, with investors pricing in heightened political risk and the possibility of a shift towards more left-leaning Labour policies.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year UK government bond rose by as much as 0.08 percentage points to nearly 4.6 per cent, while yields on 30-year gilts reached their steepest level since November. Bond yields move inversely to prices, meaning the rise reflected a sell-off in gilts.

The move came after Anas Sarwar, leader of the Scottish Labour Party, publicly called on Starmer to step down, triggering speculation over the prime minister’s future. Yields later pared back some of their gains after senior cabinet ministers rallied behind Starmer.

Currency markets were more mixed. Sterling strengthened 0.4 per cent against the dollar to $1.36, while slipping 0.26 per cent against the euro to €1.14. London’s FTSE 100 ended the session 0.16 per cent higher.

Investors appeared to react to concerns that Starmer, under pressure from within his party, could pivot towards more interventionist or higher-spending policies to shore up support from Labour backbenchers. Markets also weighed the prospect of a leadership contest that could elevate figures from the party’s left.

One name increasingly discussed by traders is Angela Rayner, who is seen as sitting to the left of Starmer. Although Rayner was among senior Labour figures to publicly back the prime minister, her potential ascent has unsettled investors wary of a change in fiscal direction. Wes Streeting, associated with Labour’s more centrist wing, is also viewed as a possible contender in any future leadership race.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said markets were beginning to reprice UK assets. “A political risk premium is once again being built into UK asset prices, as investors worry about what a new leader could mean for economic policy,” she said.

The gilt sell-off also unfolded against a backdrop of broader volatility in global bond markets following Japan’s general election, though UK-specific political concerns were seen as the main driver.

Speculation around Starmer’s position intensified further after the resignation of his head of communications, Tim Allan, following the weekend departure of chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. The turmoil has been compounded by controversy surrounding the appointment of Lord Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, despite warnings over his past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For now, markets remain on edge, with investors closely watching whether Labour’s internal strains translate into a change of leadership, or a change of economic course, in the weeks ahead.

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Gilt yields jump as pressure mounts on Starmer amid leadership speculation

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has launched a new expert-led commission to examine the future of occupational safety and health (OSH) skills in the UK, amid growing concerns over workforce shortages and rising pressures on safety professionals.

Convened in partnership with Speedy Hire, the OSH Skills Commission brings together leading figures from across industry, trade unions and professional bodies to develop practical solutions to skills challenges that threaten workplace safety and productivity.

The initiative was formally launched at an event in the House of Lords by head commissioner and RoSPA vice president Baroness Crawley of Edgbaston. It will comprise five expert roundtables, each focused on a critical factor shaping OSH outcomes, with findings feeding into a final report of strategic recommendations for government and industry.

RoSPA said the commission comes at a pivotal moment, as Skills England and the government’s new post-16 skills strategy begin to identify priority areas for workforce development. The organisation aims to influence that agenda by ensuring occupational safety and health skills are recognised as essential to economic resilience and worker protection.

Five focus areas, five expert commissioners

The commission will examine five core themes, each chaired by a recognised leader in the field:
• Recruitment of competent people – Claudia Jaksh, chief executive of Policy Connect
• Retention of competent people – Rick Bate, president of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH)
• Consultation and worker representation – Luke Collins, national health and safety officer at Unite the Union
• Wellbeing, culture and psychological safety – Nick Pahl, chief executive of the Society of Occupational Medicine
• Technology in OSH – Kate Field, global head of people and social sustainability at the British Standards Institution

Each roundtable will explore how widening skills gaps, the loss of experienced professionals and difficulties in attracting and retaining talent are being compounded by changing working patterns, new technologies and increasing regulatory complexity.

Speaking at the launch, Baroness Crawley warned that the UK was facing a mounting shortage of occupational safety and health skills, with real-world consequences.

“This commission is born out of difficult circumstances,” she said. “Our nation faces a growing occupational safety and health skills shortage that is impacting productivity and putting people in danger.

“Our goal is to influence policy through stakeholder engagement and drive informed change, once again positioning the UK as a world leader in health and safety. Together, we have an opportunity to future-proof OSH skills, support national productivity and build a safer, stronger workforce.”

Andy Johnson, group HSSEQ director at Speedy Hire, said the nature of the modern workforce was creating new risks. “We’re seeing a more transient, industry-agnostic workforce moving rapidly between roles,” he said. “While that brings fresh energy, it also creates skills and knowledge gaps that present new challenges for the OSH profession.”

Nick Pahl of the Society of Occupational Medicine said the commission’s focus on empowerment was critical. “By putting skills at the heart of recruitment, retention, wellbeing and technology, the commission can identify solutions that support people and businesses rather than burden them,” he said.

RoSPA said the final report would aim to set out a clear roadmap for strengthening OSH capability across the UK, ensuring safety professionals are equipped to meet evolving risks and helping employers maintain safe, healthy and productive workplaces.

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RoSPA launches expert commission to shape the future of occupational safety skills

Barclays is turning to artificial intelligence to power the next phase of its turnaround, as the bank targets around £2 billion of cost savings and commits to returning more than £15 billion of surplus capital to shareholders by the end of 2028.

C.S. Venkatakrishnan, the chief executive, widely known as Venkat, said the bank would pursue about £2 billion of gross efficiency savings over the next three years, alongside increased investment in technology, including AI, to improve productivity and customer experience.

“We will invest further to improve customers’ experience and deepen relationships, while harnessing new technology, including AI, to improve efficiency and build segment-leading businesses and drive further growth,” Venkat said.

The commitments form part of a new set of three-year targets unveiled alongside Barclays’ full-year results, marking the next stage of a restructuring that has already delivered a sharp re-rating of the bank’s shares.

Under the plan, Barclays expects to hand back more than £15 billion of excess capital to investors by the end of 2028, reflecting stronger profitability and capital generation across the group.

The announcement comes two years after Venkat launched an overhaul of Barclays aimed at reducing reliance on its volatile investment banking arm and rebalancing the business towards more stable earnings from UK retail, corporate and private banking.

That strategy has faced setbacks on the M&A front. Barclays lost out to Santander UK last summer in the £2.65 billion auction for TSB, and earlier this week was beaten by NatWest in the race to buy wealth manager Evelyn Partners for £2.7 billion.

Despite those frustrations, the turnaround has been well received by investors. Barclays shares have risen by around 240 per cent over the past two years, one of the strongest performances among major UK banks.

The group’s annual results underlined that momentum. Pre-tax profits rose 13 per cent to £9.1 billion last year, comfortably ahead of the £9 billion forecast by City analysts.

Barclays also announced £1.8 billion of capital returns for the year, including an £800 million full-year dividend — equivalent to 5.6p a share — and up to £1 billion through a share buyback.

With its initial restructuring largely complete, Barclays is now betting that tighter cost control and the smarter use of AI can sustain growth, improve returns and cement its recovery as competition across UK and global banking intensifies.

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Barclays to lean on AI as it targets £2bn cost cuts and £15bn capital return

Official Budget forecasts were accessed almost 25,000 times before their formal release after a leak at the Office for Budget Responsibility, according to a new investigation by the UK’s cyber security authorities.

A report by the National Cyber Security Centre found that documents prepared by the Office for Budget Responsibility were downloaded on “at least” 24,701 occasions in the hour before Rachel Reeves delivered her Budget speech on 26 November.

The figure is far higher than the 43 downloads cited in an initial internal review. The NCSC said the first full download of the OBR’s forecasts occurred shortly after 11.35am on Budget day, almost an hour before the Chancellor addressed the Commons, following more than 500 failed access attempts.

According to the report, links to the documents then spread rapidly on social media, leading to tens of thousands of downloads. Within 30 minutes, there were 20,547 successful downloads from more than 10,000 unique IP addresses.

The investigation also revealed that Ms Reeves’s Spring Statement last March had been accessed 16 times before the speech was delivered, contradicting earlier claims that there had been no prior access.

The leak prompted the resignation of Richard Hughes, who stepped down as OBR chairman after the organisation described the incident as the most serious failure in its 15-year history.

The premature release of the forecasts confirmed several Budget measures ahead of the speech, including changes affecting middle-income homeowners and an extension of stealth tax measures. The disclosure is understood to have caused significant disruption in the final moments before the Chancellor delivered her address.

Kenny MacAulay, chief executive of accounting software firm Acting Office, criticised the handling of sensitive information. “It beggars belief that market-sensitive data could fall into the hands of tens of thousands of people due to sloppy document management ahead of such an important event,” he said. “Basic compliance requirements should prevent leaks of this nature.”

Graeme Stewart, head of public sector at Check Point, said the breach exposed serious risks. “With tens of thousands able to access the full economic forecast in advance, the opportunity for market manipulation by hackers or fraudsters was immense,” he said, calling for a fundamental rethink of publication processes.

Mr Hughes’s departure followed weeks of tension between the Treasury and the OBR, after the watchdog downgraded its long-term growth outlook for the UK economy. Ms Reeves was later accused by critics of having misled the public over the state of the public finances, after government briefings painted a bleaker picture than subsequent data suggested.

The Treasury said it was taking steps to strengthen security and safeguard the integrity of economic forecasts. Future OBR documents will now be published exclusively via the government’s official website, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the breach.

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NCSC reveals Budget forecasts accessed almost 25,000 times before publication

The UK Government has confirmed a new wave of onshore renewable energy projects under the Contracts for Difference scheme, following last month’s record-breaking offshore wind auction.

Results from Allocation Round 7 (AR7) show 4.9GW of solar and 1.3GW of onshore wind capacity secured across Britain, reinforcing the pace at which clean power is being rolled out across the country.

Solar projects were awarded contracts at a strike price of £65.23 per megawatt hour (in 2024 prices), below the £70/MWh achieved in Allocation Round 6 and representing the largest volume of solar capacity ever secured in a single CfD auction.

Onshore wind projects were secured at a strike price of £72/MWh, slightly above the AR6 average of £71/MWh but still below the £73/MWh seen in Allocation Round 5, reflecting continued cost stability in the sector.

Once built, the projects announced today will lift the UK’s total CfD-supported wind and solar capacity to 50.6GW, including schemes already operational or under construction. The UK currently has 16.3GW of installed onshore wind capacity and more than 21GW of solar capacity, based on figures up to September 2025.

In total, AR7 has secured 14.7GW of renewable energy projects across all technologies, marking another significant step towards decarbonising the power system and strengthening domestic energy supply.

Frankie Mayo, senior analyst at Ember, said the results underlined the momentum behind clean power deployment across Britain.

“This is a great clean power achievement,” Mayo said. “Wind and solar are unstoppable across Britain, with new projects announced today unlocking access to reliable, homegrown energy and cutting our reliance on volatile fossil fuels for decades to come.”

The latest CfD results come as ministers continue to position renewable energy as central to the UK’s long-term energy security and net zero strategy, with onshore wind and solar increasingly seen as among the fastest and most cost-effective technologies to deploy at scale.

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UK secures 6.2GW of onshore wind and solar in latest clean power auction

Innovate UK has awarded more than £300,000 in funding to a collaboration between the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation and UK healthtech company Sanome, to accelerate the development of an AI-enabled system for the early detection of hospital-acquired infections.

The 18-month SMART grant will support the co-design and roll-out of MEMORI, a Class IIb CE-certified software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD) platform that analyses real-time clinical data to predict infection risk up to seven days before symptoms appear.

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) account for more than 20 per cent of NHS bed days each year, with research suggesting that between 35 and 55 per cent are preventable through earlier detection and intervention. Conditions such as pneumonia, MRSA and Clostridium difficile contribute an estimated 7.1 million excess bed days annually, at a cost of around £2.7 billion to the NHS.

Preliminary studies using MEMORI’s first certified version have already shown it outperforming the NHS-standard National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) in detecting patient deterioration. The new funding will support the development of enhanced capabilities, including:
• Integration of additional multimodal data sources such as laboratory results, prescriptions and clinical notes, alongside existing inputs including vital signs and medications
• Deeper integration with Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems to embed insights into clinicians’ existing workflows
• A targeted 20 per cent improvement in predictive accuracy, extending the window for early intervention
• Improved explainability and machine-learning performance to increase transparency and clinical confidence

The upgraded MEMORI v2 platform will be validated through a large-scale live deployment across multiple wards at Royal Devon University NHS Foundation Trust, addressing what remains one of the NHS’s most persistent clinical and financial challenges.

The collaboration is supported by the NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre and is intended to pave the way for broader adoption across the NHS. It also lays the foundations for a long-term partnership between Sanome and the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre, hosted by the Royal Devon in partnership with the University of Exeter.

Together, the partners aim to build a longitudinal, real-time view of patient health, initially focused on infection risk but designed to expand into wider preventative and personalised care pathways.

Benedikt von Thüngen, chief executive and founder of Sanome, said: “Our mission is to prevent deterioration before it becomes life-threatening. MEMORI shows how real-world NHS data, when safely unlocked, can be transformed into actionable bedside insights using multimodal AI. Working with the Exeter HealthTech Research Centre, with support from Innovate UK, allows us to demonstrate both the clinical and system-wide benefits of AI in one of the UK’s leading NHS trusts.”

Dr Nick Kennedy, digital innovation and AI theme lead at the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Sustainable Innovation and a consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Devon, said early intervention was critical. “Hospital-acquired infections remain one of the biggest threats to patient safety, particularly for vulnerable patients. By co-designing MEMORI, we can show how AI can support clinicians, transform care and ultimately save lives.”

Chris Sawyer, innovation lead for digital health at Innovate UK, added: “Supporting the safe introduction of AI into frontline NHS care is essential for building a more resilient, patient-centred health service. This partnership is a strong example of how innovation and clinical expertise can combine to tackle long-standing challenges.”

Initial impact data from the live deployment is expected throughout 2026, alongside plans for further rollout across NHS trusts and healthcare organisations nationwide.

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Innovate UK awards £300k grant to boost AI-led early detection of hospital infections

A High Court judge has ruled that thousands of people affected by a major data breach at Capita can continue with their legal action against the outsourcing group, in a decision being described as a landmark for large-scale data privacy claims in the UK.

In a judgment handed down on 9 February, Master Dagnall rejected arguments from Capita’s legal team that solicitors acting for more than 8,000 claimants had abused the court process. Capita had claimed that the use of repetitive or generic descriptions of mental distress following the 2023 cyber attack undermined the validity of the claims.

The ruling allows the case, brought by Barings Law, to proceed and is likely to be closely watched by companies, regulators and claimant law firms involved in data protection litigation.

Barings launched the action in 2023 after a cyber attack exposed the personal data of around 6.6 million individuals, including Capita employees. The compromised information is understood to include sensitive financial and pension details.

Capita’s lawyers had applied to have the claims struck out, alleging that Barings improperly influenced evidence relating to claimants’ anxiety and psychological distress following the breach. However, Master Dagnall concluded that Capita had failed to demonstrate that any abuse of process had occurred.

In his judgment, the judge said solicitors had a “real basis” and were entitled to a “wide latitude” when preparing evidence in cases involving large numbers of claimants. He also noted that clients had given informed consent to Barings to act on their behalf. Striking out the claims, he added, would have been a “draconian step”.

Adnan Malik, head of data protection at Barings Law, said the decision was a significant victory for those affected. “From day one this case has centred on the rights of ordinary individuals against a major corporation which catastrophically failed to protect their privacy,” he said.

“For Capita to attempt to play down the seriousness of the impact was wrong, and today’s judgment affirms that the welfare of data breach victims is being taken seriously by the courts.”

Robert Whitehead, chairman of Barings Law, said the ruling reinforced the firm’s commitment to pursuing accountability in large-scale privacy cases. “Capita has played fast and loose with its customers’ data, and that has had an inevitable impact on the health and wellbeing of those affected,” he said. “We see today’s decision as a vindication of our claimants’ rights and an important signal for future data breach cases.”

While the ruling does not determine whether claimants will ultimately succeed, it clears a major procedural hurdle. The court said substantive questions around the extent of harm suffered by victims will be examined at a later trial, as the case against Capita now moves to its next phase.

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High Court clears way for thousands to pursue Capita data breach claims