The UK government has unveiled an ambitious plan to invest $273 million in the development of its most potent supercomputer to date, Isambard-AI, destined to become one of the world’s premier AI supercomputers upon activation. This technological marvel will harness the computational might of thousands of NVIDIA superchips, enabling it to execute over 200 quadrillion calculations per second. The anticipated launch date for Isambard-AI is set for the summer of 2024, and it will find its home at the University of Bristol.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is spearheading the construction of this supercomputer, which will incorporate a staggering 5,448 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips, as announced by NVIDIA. Isambard-AI is poised to deliver more than 21 exaflops of AI performance, translating to over 21 quintillion floating point operations per second, particularly tailored for AI applications like the training of large language models. According to the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI will outperform the fastest supercomputer in the UK today by a factor of ten. The supercomputer will reside within Bristol’s National Composites Center, featuring a self-cooled and self-contained data center.
This announcement was made during the UK’s AI Safety Summit, a gathering of leaders from various countries, including the United States, to discuss the future of AI and its associated risks. Isambard-AI is poised to collaborate with other supercomputers within the UK to further amplify its performance capabilities. Once operational, as affirmed by Simon McIntosh-Smith from the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI is set to become “one of the most powerful AI systems for open science worldwide,” reflecting the UK’s commitment to advancing AI research and innovation on a global scale.
