'Pivotal moment' Supercomputer 'set to save lives and create jobs'

Bristol is now home to Isambard-AI, the UK's most powerful supercomputer, putting the city at the heart of the AI revolution. We take a look what it can do...

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TO the thousands of people driving along the ring road every day it could be any other warehouse.

But inside Bristol and Bath Science Park's latest addition is the UK's most powerful supercomputer.

In fact, Isambard-AI - named after Bristol's most famous engineer - is so advanced it can process more information than the rest of Britain's supercomputers combined.

Its makers' claim the £225million facility, developed by the University of Bristol in close partnership with HPE and NVIDIA, is able to process in one second what it would take the entire global population 80 years to achieve.

The processing speeds offer capacity never seen before in the UK, allowing researchers and industry to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in fields such as robotics, big data, climate research and drug discovery.

Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, said: "Isambard-AI places Bristol at the centre of the AI revolution, spearheading AI innovation and scientific discovery in important areas such as drug discovery and climate research.

"I'm incredibly proud of our team and how we've worked so closely with partners to develop this national facility which will establish Bristol and the UK as an international hub for AI research."