Bristol, UK — The £225m new Isambard-AI facility, developed by the University of Bristol in partnership with HPE and NVIDIA, has been launched.
The supercomputer, which is built and run by the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), and based at NCC on the Bristol and Bath Science Park, was officially launched by Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology.
Named after engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel – a nod to the region’s historic contributions to engineering and innovation – Isambard-AI is powered by more than 5,400 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips and HPE Cray EX supercomputer technology.
It the 6th fastest supercomputer in Europe and the 4th greenest in the world according to the Green500 list. Built to be energy efficient, the facility uses zero carbon electricity. It has been built in a low-carbon, modular data centre that utilises HPE’s 100 percent fan-less, direct liquid cooling technology to deliver up to 90 percent reduction in cooling power consumption. There is also potential to recycle the waste heat output for nearby homes and businesses.
It is part of the UK Government’s AI Research Resource (AIRR), intended to boost the country’s AI capabilities. Isambard-AI, alongside the Dawn supercomputer at the University of Cambridge, will see the UK’s compute capacity increase to 23 AI ExaFLOPs – the equivalent of everyone in the UK spending 85,000 years doing what the full AIRR will do in one second. “That means everyone in the UK would have needed to start calculating more than 80,000 years before Stonehenge was built – without taking a break,” the university said in its announcement.
Named ‘AI University of the Year’ in 2024, the university will also be training the AI pioneers of the future by offering a fully-funded Government-backed master’s degree in artificial intelligence through the Spärck AI scholarship.
Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, said: “This is a pivotal moment for AI in the UK and the University of Bristol is proud to be at the heart of it. We have a long history of AI research, innovation and education and now we are home to the UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer.
“Together with HPE and NVIDIA, we have delivered this remarkable national facility at pace, in just under 24 months. Due to its impressive power, working at speeds 100,000 times faster than an average laptop, we will soon see Isambard AI deliver transformational research and breakthroughs that will ultimately improve people’s lives.”
The team at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) has used its experience, combined with the latest modular data centre techniques, to complete in under two years what usually takes four to five years, progressing the Isambard-AI project at unprecedented pace.
Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, said: “Isambard-AI places Bristol at the centre of the AI revolution, spearheading AI innovation and scientific discovery in important areas such as drug discovery and climate research.
“I’m incredibly proud of our team and how we’ve worked so closely with partners to develop this national facility which will establish Bristol and the UK as an international hub for AI research.”
Today’s launch follows the Technology Secretary launching a ten-year plan to boost the country’s AI compute capacity. This will increase the UK’s ability to deliver the next generation of game-changing breakthroughs while building up the strengths of Britain’s wider AI sector.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle said: “Today we put the most powerful computer system in the country into the hands of British researchers and entrepreneurs. Isambard-AI doesn’t just close the gap with our international competitors – it propels the UK to the forefront of AI discovery.
“With our AI Research Resource now fully up and running, the UK is home to the raw computational horsepower that will save lives, create jobs, and help us reach net zero ambitions faster.
“This is our Plan for Change in action, building the compute infrastructure that makes Britain a magnet for the world’s brightest minds and boldest ideas. The breakthroughs
delivered by the AI Research Resource will define the next decade, from AI tools that spot cancer earlier, to materials that help make clean energy cheaper than fossil fuels.”
Researchers at the University of Bristol are using Isambard-AI to help analyse recordings from wearable cameras and other smart devices to help people perform tasks better at home – something which holds immense promise for assisting dementia patients in the future.
Videos contain far more information than images or text, but research in video understanding has been limited due to the hardware needs of handling the sheer volume of such data. This new capability of Isambard-AI is opening up exciting possibilities, including capturing footage directly from individuals in the early stages of dementia and training an AI model to help trigger stronger memories later on.
Other examples of research enabled by the supercomputer include using AI to analyse MRI scans – meaning cases of cancer can be identified sooner and patients can then be given personalised treatment plans; improving our understanding of over 30 key proteins involved in a number of diseases to help develop future treatments; and the monitoring and analysis of dairy cattle herds to detect changes in social behaviour which can serve as early indicators of subclinical diseases.
John Josephakis, Global Vice President of Business Development for HPC and Supercomputing at NVIDIA, said: “Isambard-AI supercomputer is a vital national asset, providing researchers and innovators with advanced AI and high-performance computing resources.
“The system is a step toward establishing sovereign AI capabilities and will accelerate breakthroughs in areas like climate science, healthcare, and data analytics to drive scientific discovery and economic growth.”
Richard Oldfield, CEO of NCC, said: “Hosting Isambard gives us the opportunity to harness world class digital and AI research, applying it across the product lifecycle to transform UK industry. We are accelerating the development of better products and processes to deliver stronger outcomes. That’s how we drive economic growth.”
Applications are now open for researchers and SMEs to use Isambard-AI, with more than 80 teams having already applied – demonstrating huge demand for this step-change in UK compute capability.
