Argyll and SambaNova team up to launch sovereign AI cloud for UK customers

Argyll Data Development has launched a sovereign AI inference cloud, built in partnership with AI infrastructure firm SambaNova.

The UK-owned facility will be based on SambaNova’s AI hardware and software stack, and will keep all data, models, and operations fully under local control.

According to the duo, inferencing requires significantly less power than training, reducing costs for developers and avoiding energy waste, while minimizing latency for time-sensitive sectors like healthcare and banking.

Argyll said it expects early adoption in life sciences, medicine, and banking, thanks to their rapid AI integration. Other applications are likely to include logistics and customs management, especially given post-Brexit paperwork demands, along with education and agriculture.

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Rather than using standard GPU-based systems, the platform is based on SambaNova’s Reconfigurable Data Unit (RDU) architecture, running its SambaManaged solution.

Argyll said this gives customers high-performance AI inference with lower power and cooling requirements, operating within a power envelope of approximately 10kW per rack.

"As organizations scale AI, many are defaulting to GPU infrastructure without fully accounting for long-term cost, energy and operational complexity," said Jude Sheeran, managing director, EMEA at SambaNova.

"Our work with Argyll provides an alternative, enabling high-performance AI inference that is more efficient, deployable and aligned with sovereignty requirements."

The facility, powered by 100% renewable Scottish energy, is housed in the Killellan AI Growth Zone, a 184-acre digital campus in Scotland on the Cowal Peninsula, and is already live.

Operating within a power envelope of around 10kW per rack, SambaNova said its technology allows sovereign AI infrastructure to be deployed within existing UK data centers.

Argyll’s inference cloud has been designed as a disaggregated platform, allowing compute, storage, and networking to be deployed across multiple UK locations, while operating as a single, unified inference layer.

This, Argyll said, increases resilience and flexibility for organizations operating in regulated or security-sensitive sectors.

Customers will be able to run AI applications in real time - from customer operations to fraud detection - at low cost, the duo claimed. The inference cloud hosts open source models such as Minimax, running at speeds of up to 400 tokens per second, delivered entirely within a UK-resident environment.

"Sovereignty in AI is not a label you can apply to a contract or a colocation agreement," said Peter Griffiths, chairman at Argyll Data Development.

"It is a condition that has to be demonstrated - who is accountable, where the infrastructure sits, who controls the intelligence layer, and whether all of that aligns with the expectations of the society being served. Our platform satisfies those conditions. We are building the standard that others should be measured against."

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