Edinburgh University to host £8.6m AI factory antenna

The University of Edinburgh will play host to a multi-million-pound AI factory antenna. 

The antenna will allow businesses and researchers in the UK to collaborate with Europe’s most advanced supercomputers to further develop AI. 

The project, which is funded to the tune of £8.6m, will employ a staff of 20 and be based at the University of Edinburgh’s EPCC centre.  

The project is part of the European Union’s AI Factories initiative, which is intended to encourage collaboration, innovation and research in the field of AI by bringing together computing power from across countries and regions for the “benefit of all.” The project will link the UK’s computing power into the network, increasing the computing power available to researchers both in the UK and abroad. 

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology will contribute £2.5m of the funding towards the antenna, with the rest of the funding coming from the EU.  

“This is another step in our plan to transform the UK into an AI maker,” said UK Government AI Minister Kanishka Narayan. “By working with our neighbours, we’ve giving our best and brightest access to the processing power, data and training needed to develop new breakthroughs in everything from healthcare to climate change.” 

The antenna at EPCC will collaborate with the HammerHAI AI Factory, located in Germany’s first national supercomputing centre, the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS). The project will also work with academics from the University of Stuttgart and is led by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). 

The hope is that the antenna will aid researchers in furthering the UK’s existing AI and technology strengths, while also working with partners across Europe to accelerate the adoption of AI in a range of sectors such as health, advanced engineering, financial technology and robotics.   

“EPCC and HLRS have led the use of national supercomputing services in Europe by industry over the past 30 years,” said EPCC director Professor Mark Parsons. “The emergence of AI as a key application of supercomputing and this funding from EuroHPC and the UK Government is now enabling our organisations to embark on this new collaboration. We’re honoured to be working with HLRS and the University of Stuttgart again.”   

The project comes on the back of a £750m investment by the UK Government to construct a new supercomputer at the EPCC. The advanced supercomputer will come online in 2027 and is predicted to be 50 times faster than ARCHER2, the UK’s current supercomputer. Inside, the computer will contain between 8-12,000 next-generation GPUs and be capable of performing tasks that far exceed the capabilities of supercomputers today. 

“This significant investment underlines Edinburgh’s world-leading capabilities in supercomputing and AI,” said Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, principal and vice chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. “It also shows the important role universities have in deepening our understanding of cutting-edge technologies, blazing a trail for industry and the public sector, leading to economic growth and job creation. We are delighted with the funding and look forward to working with our partners to deliver on the UK AI Factory Antenna’s ambition for the whole UK.”