UK invests US$273 million in AI supercomputer

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The UK government has announced an investment of US$273 million to build its most powerful supercomputer to date, called Isambard-AI, which when implemented will be one of the world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers.

For those in a hurry:

• The UK government is investing this amount to build a very powerful AI supercomputer called Isambard-AI.
• Powered by thousands of NVIDIA superchips, Isambard-AI can perform more than 200 quadrillion calculations per second.
• Expected to become operational in the summer of 2024, the supercomputer will be provided by the University of Bristol.
• Isambard-AI will achieve 21 exaflops of AI performance, 10 times faster than the fastest supercomputers in the UK today.

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Isambard-AI supercomputer

It will be equipped with thousands of NVIDIA Superchips, allowing it to perform more than 200 quadrillion calculations per second. Isambard-AI is expected to become operational in the summer of 2024 and will be hosted by the University of Bristol.

The supercomputer is being built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and will use 5,448 of NVIDIA’s GH200 Grace Hopper superchips. Engadget. It can achieve over 21 exaflops of AI performance or 21 quintillion floating point operations per second for AI applications such as training large language models.

According to the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI will be 10 times faster than the fastest supercomputer in the UK today. It will be installed in a “self-contained and self-cooled data centre” at the National Composite Materials Center in Bristol.

The announcement was made during the UK AI Security Summit, where leaders from several countries, including the US, are meeting to discuss the future of AI and its potential risks.

Isambard-AI will eventually be used to connect with other supercomputers in the UK, increasing performance. According to Simon McIntosh-Smith of the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI “will be one of the most powerful AI systems for open science anywhere.”