Isambard-AI, the UK’s Most Powerful AI Supercomputer, Goes Live

The U.K. has officially joined the premier league of global AI infrastructure - and it's not starting small.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), leaders today unveiled Isambard-AI, the most powerful AI supercomputer ever built in the U.K.

U.K. Secretary of State Peter Kyle was joined by leaders from across academia, industry and government, including Simon McIntosh-Smith, director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, and Neil MacDonald, executive vice president and general manager for Hewlett Packard Enterprise's server business.

" And as we press this switch to activate the UK's most powerful supercomputer, we are embarking on Britain's super future where AI contributes towards the delivery of better public services, greater public prosperity, deeper scientific discovery and stronger national security, " Kyle said.

The numbers back up Kyle's statement:

• 21 exaflops of AI performance
• 5,448 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips
• Set to rank 11th worldwide on the latest TOP500 list of world's fastest supercomputers
• More than 10x faster than the next-fastest supercomputer in the U.K. More computing power than all other U.K. supercomputers combined
• Ranked fourth globally for energy efficiency