In a significant move towards technological supremacy, the British government has allocated a staggering £225 million, equivalent to approximately IDR 4.4 trillion, to spearhead the creation of an advanced supercomputer that will not only outshine its European counterparts but also drive innovation in artificial intelligence (AI).
The British government’s visionary approach aims to position the United Kingdom as a global leader in supercomputing. To achieve this goal, they have dedicated unbridled financial resources to construct an AI-powered supercomputer named Isambard-AI.
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Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has been entrusted with the pivotal role of the technology provider, charged with the design, development, and delivery of this cutting-edge system. Located at the prestigious National Composites Center (NCC) in Bristol, Isambard-AI promises to be a game-changer.
Isambard-AI is not just another supercomputer. Its capabilities are astonishing, with a staggering performance of 200 quadrillion calculations per second. This computational powerhouse is primed to revolutionize research in diverse fields, including robotics, big data analysis, climate change, and drug discovery. Scheduled for operation in the summer of 2024, Isambard-AI is set to redefine the boundaries of supercomputing.
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Projections indicate that Isambard-AI will eclipse existing supercomputers by a factor of ten, solidifying its status as one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe.
Simon McIntosh-Smith, the director of the Isambard National Research Facility at the University of Bristol, considers this system as a monumental leap in AI computing power for the UK, destined to be a global frontrunner in scientific AI.
McIntosh-Smith expressed his excitement, stating, “It’s incredibly exciting to be at the forefront of the AI revolution and partner with industry leaders HPE and NVIDIA to quickly build and deploy a large-scale research computing infrastructure to create one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.”
Isambard-AI is poised to unlock new horizons for researchers and industries across the UK, enabling them to harness the immense potential of AI in domains such as robotics, big data analysis, climate research, and drug discovery.
Justin Hotard, executive vice president and general manager of high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and Laboratories at HPE, emphasized the UK government’s dedication to global AI leadership. He explained, “The Isambard-AI system will leverage world-leading supercomputing, including a high-performance network co-developed at HPE laboratories in Bristol, to provide the performance and scale required for compute-intensive AI projects.”
