Nvidia is powering the UK’s fastest superocmputer yet – here’s what it can do

• Nvidia’s GH200 chips are at the core of Britain’s Isambard-AI supercomputer
• It’s the 11th fastest in the world, and 10x faster than Britain’s second-fastest
• The UK government hopes it’ll aid in drug discovery and more

The UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer, Isambard-AI, is now fully operational at the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS), with some serious Nvidia power at its core.

With 21 exaFlops of AI performance backed by 5,448 Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper superchips, Isambard-AI now ranks 11th on the Top 500 list of fastest supercomputers, making it one of the global leaders.

Nvidia declared the British supercomputer is now 10x faster than the next UK supercomputer, and more powerful than all the others in the UK combined.

A giant leap forward

Besides being the 11th fastest supercomputer globally, Isambard-AI also ranks fourth globally on the Green500 list for energy efficiency, demonstrating the progress being made to reduce the environmental impact of AI machines and data centers.

Its eco-credentials are endless, including carbon-free power, waste heat recycling and a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of below 1.1 – among the best in the world.

Build in collaboration with Nvidia, HPE and the University of Bristol, Isambard-AI received £225 million in government funding in the hope that the supercomputer would go on to aid across important humanitarian issues like drug discovery and climate modeling.

“And as we press this switch to activate the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, we are embarking on Britain’s super future where AI contributes towards the delivery of better public services, greater public prosperity, deeper scientific discovery and stronger national security,” UK Secretary of State Peter Kyle commented.

Among its first projects are Nightingale AI, trained on NHS data to support earlier diagnoses and personalized care, BritLLM, designed to promote inclusivity and better public service delivery in the UK’s languages, including Welsh; and UCL Cancer Screening AI for prostate cancer detection.

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