The University of Edinburgh will become home to the UK’s most powerful supercomputer as part of the UK Government’s plans to drive national renewal and unlock economic growth through artificial intelligence.

Up to £750 million for the new supercomputer in Edinburgh will be confirmed by the Chancellor at today’s Spending Review, following the Prime Minister’s commitment of an extra £1 billion in funding to ramp up the UK’s AI compute power twentyfold.

This vital piece of national infrastructure, which will be located at Edinburgh University’s Advanced Computing Facility, will give scientists across the UK access to compute power on a world-leading scale and place Edinburgh at the centre of a nationwide effort to drive tech innovation.

According to the University of Edinburgh, the decision will also protect tech jobs that might otherwise have been lost in Scotland, and provide a further boost to the regional economy.  

“Building on the University of Edinburgh’s expertise and experience over decades, this powerful supercomputer will drive economic growth by supporting advancements in medicine, bolstering emerging industries and public services, and unlocking the full potential of AI,” said Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, principal and vice-chancellor of the university.

The announcement marks a U-turn by the UK Government after it initially shelved plans for an £800 million Edinburgh-based supercomputer following Labour’s election to office last year.

At the time, reports from the Financial Times, citing unnamed Government sources, suggested the Prime Minister had scrapped Edinburgh’s exascale computing project because it made ‘little strategic sense’.  

The decision to suspend the project has since been widely criticised, including by major players in the SNP such as Edinburgh Central MSP Angus Robertson, who has been urging the UK Government to reconsider its stance since late last year.

Earlier this year, the secretary of state for Scotland, Ian Murray, insisted that Edinburgh’s supercomputer had simply been ‘paused, not axed’, and that Scotland was still well placed to deliver the project.

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Speaking on today’s revival of Edinburgh’s supercomputing venture, Murray said: “This is a landmark moment and will place Scotland at the forefront of the UK’s technological revolution.”

“The £750 million investment in Edinburgh’s new supercomputer places Scotland at the cutting edge of computing power globally.”

The UK Government said it hopes that Edinburgh’s new supercomputer will provide the compute power needed for the next big breakthroughs in areas like medicine, sustainability, and tackling climate change.

To that end, the supercomputer will work alongside the AI Research Resource, a network of the UK’s most powerful supercomputers that were built to bolster scientific research, which is due to come online soon, and is already being used to test millions of potential new drugs virtually to speed up the creation of medicines.