UK Launches Isambard-AI, Its Most Powerful Supercomputer

July 17, 2025

Details

  • Isambard-AI, the UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer, was launched at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing on July 17, 2025.
  • The system was developed through a partnership between the UK government, University of Bristol, HPE, and NVIDIA, featuring 5,448 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips.
  • Isambard-AI delivers 21 exaflops of 8-bit AI performance and over 250 petaflops for traditional HPC workloads, utilizing 200Gb/s internal networking and almost 25 petabytes of storage.
  • Constructed in less than two years with £225 million in funding, it ranks 4th on the Green500 list thanks to direct liquid cooling and zero-carbon electricity.
  • Initial projects include Nightingale AI for health diagnostics, BritLLM for UK language models, cancer screening, sustainable materials discovery, and assistive AI for dementia care.

Impact

The launch of Isambard-AI positions the UK among global leaders in AI and high-performance computing. With this infrastructure, the UK accelerates breakthroughs in healthcare and science while advancing its ambition for AI sovereignty. The investment underscores a commitment to world-class compute power, enabling both innovation and sustainable development.

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