In the next 5 years, the United Kingdom plans to increase “sovereign computing power“ by 20 times and create another supercomputer to develop a globally competitive industry in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the newspaper Financial Times (FT) reported, citing its sources.
According to them, the new supercomputer will join high-performance computing systems in the United Kingdom, including Isambard-AI at the University of Bristol with almost 5,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for training artificial intelligence and Dawn at the University of Cambridge. By 2030 is expected to create capacities with 100,000 GPUs.
Such data is contained in a report commissioned by the government of the expert Matt Clifford, an adviser to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The new facilities “will be deployed by London primarily for AI applications in academia and government services.“
Such a “plan will make the UK a world leader in AI“, the FT quoted the head of the British government as saying. The Clifford AI Capability Action Plan report, which included 50 recommendations, was presented to the government in September last year, but its publication was postponed due to the review of the report by the cabinet, the newspaper recalls. The recommendations approved by the government include the creation of “accelerated development zones” AI and AI Energy Council.
Sovereign computing power is needed to make UK companies and AI researchers less dependent on AI businesses in other countries as “computing infrastructure is becoming a geopolitical battleground”, according to tech experts including Clifford, the publication said.