Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, is set to become the host of a next-generation compute system that is among the fastest in the world. This revolutionary system has the potential to transform breakthroughs in various fields including artificial intelligence (AI), medicine, and clean low-carbon energy.
The UK government has chosen Edinburgh as the preferred location for the new national exascale facility, as part of its continuous investment in the country’s computing capacity. This investment is crucial for the functioning of modern economies and cutting-edge scientific research.
Exascale represents the next frontier in computing power, where systems are designed to carry out highly complex functions with increased speed and precision. This advancement allows researchers to accelerate their work on some of the most pressing challenges of our time, such as the development of new drugs and advancements in nuclear fusion for clean low-carbon energy production.
The exascale system, which will be hosted at the University of Edinburgh, will be capable of handling these intricate workloads while also supporting critical research into AI safety and development. This reflects the UK’s commitment to harnessing the potential of AI in a safe manner to enhance the lives of people across the nation.
Michelle Donelan, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, emphasized the importance of powering up the systems that enable scientific discovery and technological innovation. The newly funded exascale computer in Edinburgh will provide British researchers with an ultra-fast and versatile resource to support pioneering work in AI safety, life-saving drugs, and clean low-carbon energy. This investment is part of a £900 million initiative aimed at enhancing the UK’s computing capacity, fostering economic growth, creating high-skilled jobs, and unlocking new discoveries.
The computing power of a system is measured in ‘flops’ (floating point operations), which indicates the number of arithmetic calculations the computer can perform per second. An exascale system will be 50 times more powerful than the current top-end system, ARCHER2, which is also housed in Edinburgh.
The investment in the exascale facility will lead to the creation of new high-skilled jobs in Edinburgh. Moreover, the upgraded national facility will significantly enhance the UK’s research, technology, and innovation capabilities, thereby boosting economic growth, productivity, and prosperity across the country. These developments align with the priorities set by the Prime Minister.
Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, the Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, highlighted the critical role of state-of-the-art compute infrastructure in advancing research and innovation. This investment in Edinburgh will keep the UK at the forefront of emerging technologies and promote collaborations necessary for game-changing insights across various disciplines.
Scotland’s Secretary of State, Alister Jack, expressed the importance of the new exascale system in maintaining Scotland’s position in science and innovation. In addition to supporting AI safety research, this development will bring highly skilled jobs to Edinburgh and contribute to the region’s economic growth.
This announcement follows the recent news that Bristol will host a powerful AI supercomputer, Isambard-AI, which will be one of Europe’s most formidable systems dedicated to AI. This supercomputer, part of the national AI Research Resource (AIRR), will maximise the potential of AI and support critical work on the safe development and utilisation of this technology.
The plans for both the exascale compute and the AIRR were initially unveiled in March as part of a £900 million investment to upgrade the UK’s next-generation compute capacity. These developments fulfil two recommendations from the independent review into the Future of Compute.
These announcements coincide with the upcoming AI Safety Summit, which will take place in the UK on November 1 and 2. The summit aims to bring together leading countries, technology organizations, academics, and civil society to establish global consensus on managing the risks associated with rapid advances in AI, while also harnessing the benefits of this technology to improve lives.
