A Durham University researcher has secured a major European grant to investigate the physical technology behind artificial intelligence, including how the world’s AI microchips are made and the forces shaping their production.
Dr Ludovico Rella, an assistant professor in Durham University’s Geography Department, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth up to €1,437,511.25 over five years. The award was announced on 3 September 2026.
The European Research Council said it had awarded Starting Grants to 421 early-career researchers following a record 4,807 applications. The scheme supports researchers who have demonstrated excellence and are ready to develop independent programmes with the potential to become research leaders.
What Durham’s AI hardware project will examine
Dr Rella’s project, called Thinking Metal, will focus on an often-overlooked part of artificial intelligence: the physical infrastructure that allows AI systems to operate.
While much public discussion and research has concentrated on software, computer code and algorithms, the project will examine the microchips and hardware underneath those systems. It will investigate how and where AI microchips are produced, how they affect AI algorithms, and how they work when systems make decisions and predictions.
The research will map the global network involved in manufacturing AI microchips. It will also examine the political and economic forces that shape the industry.
According to Durham University, looking at AI’s physical side could change how questions about fairness, sustainability and the future of artificial intelligence are considered.
Research builds on Durham work
The grant builds on research carried out through the ALGOSOC ERC Advanced Grant, support from Durham University’s Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life and work in the Department of Geography.
Dr Rella works within Durham’s Synthetic Worlds Thematic Pathway, where his research covers the physical infrastructure, environments and economies behind AI.
His published work includes research in Political Geography, Social Studies of Science and Big Data & Society. He is also an editor for Digital Geography and Society and Backchannels, and chairs Durham’s Digital Geographies Thematic Group.
Why the award matters
The five-year funding will allow Dr Rella to develop an independent programme of research into an industry central to the expansion of artificial intelligence. The project’s focus means the study will look beyond the visible software used by AI systems to the supply chains, manufacturing sites and economic relationships that make that software possible.
Durham University’s Geography Department is ranked sixth in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026 and third in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2027, according to the university.