- Up to £750 million for a new supercomputer in Edinburgh will be confirmed by the Chancellor at Spending Review – giving scientists across the UK access to compute power found in only a handful of other nations.
- Commitment follows the Prime Minister committing an extra £1 billion of funding to ramp up the UK’s AI compute power twenty fold as he opened London Tech Week.
- AI Research Resource coming into operation soon, as Isambard supercomputer named one of the most powerful in the world.
Scotland will be home to the UK’s most powerful supercomputer to drive forward innovations that grow our economy and ensure people are better off, putting Edinburgh at heart of the UK’s plans to unlock a decade of national renewal through artificial intelligence.
The news comes after the Prime Minister kicked off London Tech Week by unveiling £1 billion of extra funding to scale up the country’s AI compute power twenty-fold. Following that announcement, the Chancellor has now confirmed up to a further £750 million to build the UK’s new national supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh, strengthening Britain’s position as an AI-maker and research power, with researchers and start-ups backed to deliver new waves of innovations and discoveries.
Edinburgh’s new supercomputer will give scientists from across the UK the compute power they need for cutting edge research and making the next big breakthrough – whether that’s personalised medical treatments, making air travel more sustainable, or modelling climate change. This will form part of the Chancellor’s commitment to investing in Britain’s renewal at the Spending Review today (Wednesday), ensuring the British people are better off – from better health to economic growth.
The supercomputer will work alongside the AI research resource, a network of the UK’s most powerful supercomputers that were built to bolster scientific research. The AI Research Resource, which is due to come into operation soon, is already being used to research Alzheimer’s vaccines and treatments for cancer by simulating how drugs work inside the body and ‘testing’ millions of potential drugs virtually to speed up the creation of new medicines.
Ahead of that moment, the Isambard system has this week been ranked in the top ten globally and top 5 in Europe for publicly available supercomputers. According to the latest Top500 rankings, it also ranks as a leader in terms of efficiency, setting a clear benchmark of how the UK government is delivering on its AI ambitions while driving forward its mission to become a clean energy superpower.
UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle said
From the shipyards of the Clyde to developments in steam engine technology, Scottish trailblazers were central to the industrial revolution – so the next great industrial leap through AI and technology should be no different.
Basing the UK’s most powerful supercomputer in Edinburgh, Scotland will now be a major player in driving forward the next breakthroughs that put our Plan for Change into action.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said
We are investing in Scotland’s renewal, so working people are better off.
Strong investment in our science and technology sector is part of our Plan for Change to kickstart economic growth, and as the home of the UK’s largest supercomputer, Scotland will be an integral part of that journey.
Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray said
This is a landmark moment and will place Scotland at the forefront of the UK’s technological revolution. The £750 million investment in Edinburgh’s new supercomputer places Scotland at the cutting edge of computing power globally.
This will see Scotland playing a leading role in creating breakthroughs that have a global benefit – such as new medicines, health advances, and climate change solutions. This is the Plan for Change – delivering real opportunities and economic growth for communities across Scotland.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson said
This significant investment will have a profoundly positive impact on the UK’s global standing, and we welcome the vast opportunities it will create for research and innovation.
Building on the University of Edinburgh’s expertise and experience over decades, this powerful supercomputer will drive economic growth by supporting advancements in medicine, bolstering emerging industries and public services, and unlocking the full potential of AI. We look forward to working alongside the UK government and other partners to deliver this critical national resource.
The new supercomputer will vastly exceed the capacity of the UK’s current national supercomputer, ARCHER2.
The government will set out more details about the system in our upcoming Compute Roadmap, which we will publish this summer. It will outline the government’s strategic approach to building world-class compute infrastructure in the UK – which will include the new national supercomputer in Edinburgh and our investment to expand the AI Research Resource by at least 20 times by 2030.
DSIT and UKRI will work to ensure that the Edinburgh supercomputer’s system size represents value for money on our investment and meets the needs of the diverse user groups of the UK’s compute infrastructure.
