THE University of Edinburgh has issued a statement on Labour’s U-turn on supercomputer technology – after they axed the Scottish institute's plans to have its own last year.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out his AI action plan on Monday as he said it could boost economic growth – and announced his Government’s pledge to increase the UK’s computer capacity 20-fold by 2030, including building a new supercomputer.
The announcement was branded a "betrayal" by the SNP, given that Labour had pulled £800 million in funding from an Edinburgh supercomputer project just months ago.
Although Labour have come on board with plans to build one, the location of a new supercomputer was not confirmed in the announcement on Monday.
Responding, Professor Peter Mathieson, the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Edinburgh, said he welcomed the announcement and the UK Government’s “pledge to invest” in AI computing.
He said: “The University of Edinburgh has been at the heart of the research and development of AI for the past 60 years. We note the focus on the need for greater supercomputing capacity within the public and private sectors, and the plans to increase this twenty-fold by 2030.
“As the host of national supercomputing services for the past 30 years, we stand ready to play our part to deliver this vital resource for the country.”
Mathieson added: “The highly successful Data Driven Innovation programme, a key part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, has shown how the availability of AI services at a regional level can deliver huge economic and skills benefits. We hope to lead the development of an AI Growth Zone in our region.”
The £800m plan to build a supercomputer at Edinburgh University was part of £1.3 billion of funding promised by the previous government for tech and AI projects, which were announced in the Autumn Statement last year.
However, Starmer pulled the plug on the plans to build an exascale supercomputer at the university shortly after he came into power.
Edinburgh University spent £31m building housing for the exascale supercomputer when funding was announced in October 2023 by the Tory government.
The proposed plans for the supercomputer would have made it one of the most powerful machines in the world and would have been 50 times faster than any current computers in the UK.
According to the university’s website at the time of the funding being pulled, the first phase of installing the supercomputer was expected to begin in 2025.
Mathieson said: “As the AI Opportunities Action Plan notes, the case for non-AI supercomputing is already well established, including the need to deliver an exascale capability.
“We are continuing discussions with all partners to ensure there is no break in continuity of national supercomputing provision, which supports innovative scientific and industrial research from all of the UK. AI and traditional supercomputing go hand-in-hand and are not in competition with each other.”
SNP MSP David Torrance (above) previously told The National that if Labour would build a supercomputer elsewhere it would be “another betrayal” from the UK Government towards Scotland.
He said: “Just a few months after coming into office and promising to deliver growth, the UK Labour Government has pulled the plug from the ground-breaking £800m supercomputer project at Edinburgh University, undermining Scotland’s world-leading data, AI and tech sector.
“Deciding now to develop this technology elsewhere would be another betrayal from this UK Labour government towards Scotland.”
