Rolls-Royce Submarines has signed a strategic partnership with INFINITY to develop advanced manufacturing and prototyping facilities at a new technology park in Derby, with the wider project estimated to support 17,500 skilled jobs across the East Midlands.

The agreement, announced by Rolls-Royce on 6 November 2026, will see the two organisations work together on large-scale prototypes of advanced defence components at the 200-acre INFINITY Technology Park in Derby.

What the Derby technology park will do

INFINITY is creating the Derby park to bring full-scale prototyping, digital engineering, testing and validation, skills development and supply chain collaboration together on a single site. The Rolls-Royce Nuclear Skills Academy already operates there.

Under the partnership, Rolls-Royce Submarines and INFINITY will develop capabilities including hot isostatic pressing, power beam welding and additive manufacturing. Rolls-Royce says the new approaches should increase speed and capacity while reducing materials and costs per unit, and shorten development cycles for large and strategically important components.

The work covers components for fusion, fission, defence and aerospace, and is intended to strengthen national resilience by expanding the industrial capacity available to support the submarine programmes.

17,500 skilled jobs estimated

Rolls-Royce says the project will create an estimated 17,500 skilled jobs, supporting the East Midlands economy. The figure is an estimate for the wider technology park programme, which brings together industrial partners, specialist suppliers, universities and skills providers.

Lee Warren, engineering and technology director at Rolls-Royce Submarines, said the company needed to keep exploring new technologies as it increased output for its naval nuclear propulsion work, including providing reactors to Australia as part of the AUKUS agreement.

He said the INFINITY technology park would let the company focus on delivery at its Raynesway site in Derby while continuing to lead advanced manufacturing techniques for the next generation of nuclear power from purpose-built facilities.

Professor Gary Jones, chief executive of INFINITY, said a key objective was to support sovereign manufacture of advanced components, and that the agreement would provide new capabilities for the UK defence programme.

Submarine work behind the deal

Rolls-Royce Submarines employs more than 5,500 people and designs, manufactures and supports the pressurised water reactors that power every boat in the Royal Navy's submarine fleet. It is currently supporting the Astute and Dreadnought boat build programmes through the delivery of reactor plant.

UK Fusion Energy, the organisation responsible for delivering the UK's first prototype fusion power plant, has also announced a strategic partnership with INFINITY, and will help shape the site's future capabilities around the needs of the STEP fusion programme at West Burton in Nottinghamshire.

Jobseekers interested in roles at the Derby site should watch the Rolls-Royce careers pages and the INFINITY website for vacancies as the park develops, as no specific roles or closing dates were announced with the partnership.