Partnership strengthens commitment to secure, UK-developed AI innovation as Government accelerates investment in sovereign compute and AI hardware.
- Vodafone Business signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with London-based AI lab Cosine, joining an industry coalition co-designing Lumen Sovereign, the UK’s first fully sovereign frontier AI model for critical sectors.
- The MoU establishes a framework for collaboration between Vodafone Business, Cosine and its other coalition partners to explore opportunities in advancing sovereign AI research, development and commercial adoption.
- Lumen Sovereign will be trained entirely in the UK using UK-based compute infrastructure, supporting greater control, security and assurance for organisations operating in highly regulated and sensitive environments.
- The agreement comes as the UK Government steps up investment in sovereign AI, including its Sovereign AI programme and a new AI Hardware Plan to expand domestic compute capability, backing the UK’s ambition to be an AI maker as well as an AI adopter.
Vodafone Business today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cosine – a leading London-based AI lab building autonomous AI software engineers and sovereign frontier AI models for enterprise – to join its landmark industry coalition to co-design Lumen Sovereign, Britain’s first fully sovereign frontier AI model.
The MoU establishes a framework for collaboration between Vodafone Business, Cosine and its other coalition partners to explore opportunities in advancing sovereign AI research, development and commercial adoption.
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The coalition brings together leading organisations from across industries to strengthen the UK’s AI capability through the development of a secure, domestically trained foundation model.
Targeted for delivery later this year, Lumen Sovereign is being designed to operate independently of foreign infrastructure, giving organisations access to trusted AI technology built around UK values, governance and regulatory requirements.
For highly regulated sectors – including government, defence, financial services, healthcare and critical national infrastructure – a sovereign frontier AI model can provide greater assurance over where AI is developed, trained, deployed and governed.
It is particularly relevant for use cases involving sensitive data, strict assurance requirements or air-gapped environments, where reliance on overseas AI infrastructure may not be appropriate.
As a leading provider of digital connectivity, cloud and cyber security solutions, Vodafone Business will explore opportunities to contribute its expertise in secure digital infrastructure, enterprise technology and AI innovation to help accelerate the development, adoption and deployment of sovereign AI capabilities across the UK.
Connectivity infrastructure will be critical to making future AI applications real, giving organisations the secure, high-capacity and resilient networks they need to deploy AI at scale.
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Vodafone Business also brings a long-standing track record in sovereign, secure digital services, supporting government, defence, critical national infrastructure and other regulated organisations through UK-based expertise, secure operational environments and advanced cyber capabilities.
With more than three decades’ experience securing sensitive UK environments, Vodafone Business combines security-cleared teams, UK-based operations and 24/7 monitoring across network, cloud, IoT and cyber services.
Alistair Pullen, CEO, Cosine, said: “Lumen Sovereign is about ensuring the UK has the capability, confidence and control to build frontier AI on its own terms.
“For sovereign AI to matter, it must be designed not only for technical performance, but for the security, assurance and governance needs of the organisations that underpin our economy and national resilience.
“Vodafone Business brings deep expertise in secure connectivity, critical infrastructure and enterprise deployment, making it an important partner as we co-design Lumen Sovereign with industry.
“Together, we want to help ensure that advanced AI developed in the UK can be trusted, adopted and deployed by the sectors where sovereignty matters most.”
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Nick Gliddon, Business Director, VodafoneThree, said: “AI has the potential to transform every industry, but trust, security and sovereignty will be essential to realising its full value.
“By joining Cosine’s industry coalition, Vodafone Business is helping to advance an important initiative to establish sovereign AI capabilities in the UK, working alongside other industry leaders to create the trusted digital foundations businesses and public sector organisations need to innovate with confidence.”
The coalition aims to co-design Lumen Sovereign’s use cases, security requirements and governance standards from the outset, ensuring the model is built for the assurance needs of regulated industries.
Cosine has said the model will be trained entirely on UK soil using Isambard-AI, one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers, with deployment readiness targeted for the end of 2026.
The announcement comes as the UK Government increases its focus on sovereign AI and domestic compute capacity.
Alongside its £500 million Sovereign AI programme to back homegrown AI companies, the Government announced a £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan, including funding for a new national AI supercomputer and £400 million to purchase next-generation AI chips.
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