Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS)

🎩 Today we celebrate the birthday and legacy of one of Britain's most famous engineers, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His spirit of innovation is woven into the fabric of Bristol and it continues to inspire us at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, home of the Isambard project. Just as Brunel’s engineering feats once connected people and ideas across great distances, Isambard-AI will connect researchers, data, and industries to accelerate AI breakthroughs on a global scale. So, thank you for the unwavering inspiration, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. We’ll keep beating the drum of big ideas, bold engineering, and a Bristol legacy of innovation that continues to shape the future. 🎁 Pick up your own Lego Brunel when you see BriCS at events. Register for monthly updates to find out where we'll be: https://lnkd.in/eqg3nkMi University of Bristol SS Great Britain Trust Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust

The Isambard project at University of Bristol is home to the UK’s most powerful supercomputers, including Isambard 3 and Isambard-AI. These cutting-edge machines support groundbreaking research in medicine, engineering, language, climate science, and beyond. You can stay in the loop with our monthly updates, featuring: 🔬The latest Isambard project news 📅 Events & opportunities to get involved  🎓 Inspiring student & researcher stories Register for updates: https://lnkd.in/eqg3nkMi Do you have a project which would benefit from the power of Isambard-AI? Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eTQc5fYD

Big news for the UK 🎩 This week, we received the full hardware for Isambard-AI, the UK's fastest supercomputer, marking a significant milestone in advancing AI research and innovation. Isambard-AI Phase 1 has been used by brilliant humans since the summer of 2024, supporting breakthroughs in large language models, medicine, engineering, networks, climate science, and more. This delivery marks the arrival of Isambard-AI Phase 2, providing truly unprecedented levels of computational power, giving over 10 times the power of the UK's current fastest supercomputer ⚡ Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of BriCS and one of the founders of Isambard-AI, said: “Isambard-AI represents a major leap for the the UK’s AI and high-performance computing capabilities, reinforcing the University of Bristol’s position at the forefront of innovation. It’s an achievement we can all take great pride in, and I feel both honoured and immensely grateful to be part of this extraordinary team. Our partners at HPE, Contour, Oakland and NVIDIA, among many others, have achieved amazing things for us, delivering the Isambard-AI site and system in record time.” 🤯 The system can perform in one second what would take the combined efforts of the entire global population 81 years to achieve, if every person could perform a calculation every second, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This phenomenal computing power will speed up things like the discovery of cures for global health issues such as Alzheimer’s and cancer. 🚰 The distinctive red and blue ‘cables’ are pipes for a liquid cooling system. Cold water enters, warm water is taken away. This ‘waste’ warm water is set to be used for nearby infrastructure. This liquid cooling technology is just one of the reasons the Isambard-AI Phase 1 system ranked 2nd greenest supercomputer in the world when it was introduced in 2024. Register for updates as we move closer to full deployment: https://lnkd.in/eqg3nkMi Do you have a project which would benefit from the power of Isambard-AI? Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eTQc5fYD Special thanks to all of our collaborators and suppliers on this phase of the project, including: Oakland Construction Ltd. | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | Contour Advanced Systems BV | Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | UK Research and Innovation | NVIDIA

A huge thank you to all who joined us for Isambard Day 2025 🎩 Over two inspiring days, together we explored the latest in AI, high-performance computing and real-world applications, powered by Isambard-AI, the UK’s fastest AI supercomputer. The event showcased how, in the hands of brilliant human beings, Isambard-AI can accelerate innovation with positive impacts across science, industry, and society. A special thank you to all our speakers: Pekka Lehtovuori (CSC - IT Center for Science, Finland) | Thomas Schulthess (CSCS, Switzerland) | Pontus Stenetorp (UCL) | James Pope (University of Bristol) | Christopher Woodgate (University of Bristol) | Shengyu Zhang (University of Cambridge) | Ritchie Somerville (EPCC) | Annette Osprey (NCAS-CMS, University of Reading) | A. Aldo Faisal (Imperial) | Eric Winsor (UK AI Security Institute) | Mark Wilkinson (STFC) | Yao Lu (UCL) | Jaehoon Cha (STFC) | Christopher Wales (University of Bristol) | Jony Castagna (UKRI-STFC Hartree Centre) | Juliette (Ettie) Unwin (University of Bristol) | Gregory Verghese (King's College London) | Dr. Cédric Mesnage (University of Exeter) | Stefano Leoni (Cardiff University) | Semih Akkurt (Imperial) | Amir Masoud Nourollah (Cardiff University). Thank you also to those who took the time to fill in our feedback form so we can make this event even better next year. See you at Isambard Day 2026 🎩 🗞️ Keep up to date with BriCS news and events: https://lnkd.in/eqg3nkMi 🖋️ Apply for time on Isambard: https://lnkd.in/ewkni8HK

Delighted to showcase Isambard-AI at #AIUK on 17th & 18th March 🎩 Great to meet with Feryal Clark, Minister for AI and Digital, and Jean Innes, CEO of The Alan Turing Institute, to discuss: ⚡ The speed and capability of Isambard-AI 🔬 Current research projects already underway 🚰 Potential infrastructure solutions for waste hot water Today, our BriCS colleague, Richard Gilham, took part in a panel discussing the environmental implications of AI. Well placed to do so as Isambard-AI was ranked 2nd greenest supercomputer in the world in 2024 🟢 Thanks to The Alan Turing Institute, our UoB colleagues and the BriCS team for making it all possible. Apply for time on Isambard-AI here: https://lnkd.in/exthpyvP Simon McIntosh-Smith, Emma Rose

GW4 Isambard 3 #Supercomputer is now officially online! 💻 🧠 🎉 The new world-class supercomputer service for high-performance computing (HPC) has been delivered as part of a collaboration between the GW4 universities of University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd, and University of Exeter, alongside industry partners Hewlett Packard Enterprise, NVIDIA and Arm. Awarded £10million in funding by UK Research and Innovation in 2023, Isambard 3 will drive innovative new, scientific research in a wide range of areas, including in clean energy, and accelerate the UK’s role as a scientific superpower. Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) at the University of Bristol, and Principle Investigator for the Isambard supercomputers, said: “Our work across GW4 Isambard 1 & 2 has already pushed the boundaries of scientific research, and we have enabled significant developments across areas such as sustainable net zero, green energy and healthcare. With its advanced capabilities, Isambard 3 will take this research to the next level, supporting collaborations with our academic and industrial partners all over the world, and accelerating our understanding in areas such as artificial intelligence and scientific simulations.” Read the latest: https://buff.ly/4g7HtMK #supercomputer #researchandinnovation #scientificresearch Image Credit: Christy Nunns/University of Bristol

Our Isambard-AI supercomputer has been recognised by UK Research and Innovation as one of their 12 highlights of #Christmas! The supercomputer will be the UK’s most powerful when completed in 2025 and what better way to celebrate the incredible hard work of our Bristol Centre for Supercomputing team than to make this remarkable list. We’re super-excited to see what next year brings! https://brnw.ch/21wPBbm University of Bristol Engineering Simon McIntosh-Smith National Composite Center #Technology #ComputerScience #HPC #AI

Today the Prime Minister published my AI Opportunities Action Plan for the UK and committed to implement all its recommendations. A quick note on why this is important, what we need to do now - and how you can help Highlights of the plan include: 🏗️ AI Growth Zones with faster planning permission and grid connections 🔌 Accelerating SMRs to power AI infra 📈 20x UK public compute capacity ✂️ Procurement, visas and reg reform to boost UK AI startups 🚀 Removing barriers to scaling AI pilots in gov We all know that the UK faces some massive challenges: we need urgently to reignite growth and transform our public services My belief is that AI is the single most powerful lever we have to achieve this. But we need to act boldly and we need to act now. That’s what the Action Plan is about The UK won its place in the world by being at the forefront of previous technological and industrial revolutions. With steam, the railways, electricity, we won by being a nation of inventors, builders and adopters... If we're at the forefront of AI, there’s no reason we can’t be one of the most prosperous countries in the world. I've said this before and it remains my strong belief The good news is that we’re starting with real strengths: world-class universities and R&D; a top startup ecosystem; some world-leading companies - like Google DeepMind, Wayve and Synthesia and globally leading state capacity in AI Safety Institute But we have to be honest with ourselves: our claim to a seat at the global top table in AI will become increasingly tenuous if we can’t build and retain global winners up and down the AI stack A big part of the Action Plan is about creating the environment and conditions that allow entrepreneurs and innovators to start and scale those global winners I ask myself, what’s the £1T future AI company that drives growth, innovation and geopolitical relevance for the UK? As part of the Action Plan, we’re putting together a unit in government to focus on AI sovereignty. It’s going to combine top talent from inside and outside government to think strategically and creatively on where the UK can play and win I’ve agreed to serve as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on AI Opportunities, alongside my existing roles as Chair of Entrepreneur First and Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA). We're going to need a lot of help, so I’d love to hear from you if you share my belief that AI can unlock a better future for the UK We need input from technologists, entrepreneurs, investors and more. If you can help, we’d love to hear from you. Email: aiactionplan@dsit.gov.uk 2025 is going to be a crazy year in AI. If we seize the opportunity, it will be transformational for our country. You can read the full Action Plan at the link in the comments. I’m excited to get started!

This week, the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) had the pleasure of welcoming UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to the University of Bristol to meet Isambard-AI, planned to be the UK's most advanced supercomputer dedicated to AI research 🧠   This visit highlights the central role of Isambard-AI in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, unveiled by the Government on Monday.    Working with UKRI reinforces the significance of Isambard-AI as a powerhouse for pioneering projects that will define the next era of AI-driven discoveries. We're proud to be at the heart of this initiative, empowering researchers to push the boundaries of possibility 💡 #supercomputing #highperformancecomputing #artificialintelligence

Exciting two-day visit to Paris to attend AI summit events, including the UK Government’s AI reception at the Ambassador’s Residence, and the AI, Science and Society conference. Good to meet the AI minister Feryal Clark and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology colleagues to discuss how #Isambard-AI is going to underpin AI in the UK. University of Bristol, Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS)