How is the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre – EPCC – working to cement the UK’s function as a pacesetter in high-performance computing?
For greater than three many years, EPCC, a part of the University of Edinburgh, has been a driving pressure behind supercomputing innovation in the UK. Over the final ten years, its mission has expanded to embody knowledge science and synthetic intelligence (AI), positioning EPCC at the forefront of the applied sciences reshaping analysis, trade, and public companies. As the UK’s first designated National Supercomputing Centre, EPCC works at scale with authorities, academia, and trade to speed up the adoption of breakthrough digital applied sciences and translate computing functionality into financial and societal worth.
Driving nationwide innovation functionality
Founded in 1990 by the University of Edinburgh as the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, now merely referred to as EPCC, the Centre has advanced right into a nationwide engine for innovation in superior computing, knowledge science, and AI. Today, it performs a central function in shaping and delivering UK authorities ambitions by turning cutting-edge analysis and infrastructure into sensible functionality, new companies, and aggressive benefit for the UK.
UK National Supercomputing Centre
In 2025, EPCC was named the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre, inserting it at the coronary heart of the authorities’s UK Compute Roadmap – the nationwide technique to construct world-leading supercomputing and AI infrastructure and experience.
As a part of a deliberate community of National Supercomputing Centres, EPCC operates as a hub of innovation and experience, decreasing boundaries to superior compute and catalysing new collaborations throughout trade, academia, and the public sector. These Centres are central to the UK’s ambition to steer globally in AI and HPC — stimulating financial progress, remodeling public companies and accelerating the growth and deployment of next-generation applied sciences. This innovation-led method builds on EPCC’s 30-year observe report of translating compute functionality into real-world influence.
Pilot: UK AI Factory Antenna
EPCC is enjoying a pivotal function in strengthening the UK’s AI innovation ecosystem and re-engaging with the wider European HPC and AI group by the Pilot: UK AI Factory Antenna (Pilot-UKAIFA) – a €10m (£8.6m) jointly-funded EU–UK initiative launched in 2025.
Co-funded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), 13 AI Factory Antennas are being established throughout Europe to combine compute, knowledge and expertise, accelerating utilized AI innovation and collaboration, constructing on the 19 AI Factories which were established. Pilot-UKAIFA connects UK organisations straight into this ecosystem, with the joint UK funding from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Through Pilot-UKAIFA, EPCC will allow UK companies to entry superior compute and AI assets, take part in utilized AI tasks, and check novel approaches in actual operational contexts. Projects might be supported by EPCC’s Edinburgh International Data Facility and European AI Factory infrastructure, complemented by expertise growth, coaching, and networking delivered with UK and European AI competence centres.
Pilot-UKAIFA is delivered by EPCC in partnership with the HammerHAI AI Factory, coordinated by HLRS (High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart), alongside a consortium of main German analysis establishments.
National computational platforms for innovation
EPCC performs a key function in the growth, evolution, and operation of the computational platforms that underpin UK analysis and innovation. Over the previous 30 years, it has run all however one in all the UK’s National HPC Services — making certain that world-class programs ship most worth for science, engineering, and trade.
ARCHER2: National Supercomputing Service
ARCHER2, the UK’s present National Supercomputing Service, is a 5,860-node HPE Cray EX system able to 28 petaflops. It gives a versatile, high-impact setting for superior analysis and innovation throughout disciplines.
Through ARCHER2’s consumer help, software program growth and outreach programmes, EPCC strengthens analysis functionality, improves software program sustainability, and expands the societal relevance of supercomputing.
Independent evaluation reveals ARCHER2 enabled over £4.2bn in UK financial profit throughout its five-year operational interval, with £3.7bn pushed by analysis and growth undertaken straight on the system.
Cirrus: UKRI National Compute Resource
The New Cirrus is a state-of-the-art 256-node HPE Cray EX4000 system designed to help simulation, modelling, knowledge science, and AI-driven innovation. As an early supply of the UK Compute Roadmap, the new Cirrus will greater than double in measurement by a £19.5m UKRI funding, considerably enhancing UK computational capability. Available for analysis and innovation in its present kind right now, the expanded assets are anticipated to be out there from late 2026.
Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF)
The Edinburgh International Data Facility is a world-class personal analysis cloud engineered to help data-driven innovation. Designed and operated by EPCC, EIDF underpins the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal’s Data-Driven Innovation programme and repeatedly evolves in response to consumer wants.
EIDF gives entry to superior and rising AI applied sciences, together with Cerebras CS-3 Wafer-Scale Engines — with EPCC internet hosting the largest analysis deployment of this know-how in Europe. This functionality permits new courses of AI analysis and speedy experimentation at scale.
EPCC additionally operates Trusted Research Environments, together with the Scottish National Safe Haven, enabling safe, ruled innovation utilizing delicate knowledge for tasks delivering clear public profit.
Tursa: Extreme-scale computing for UK physics
EPCC hosts Tursa, a GPU-based extreme-scaling system for the DiRAC consortium, offering superior compute and knowledgeable service help for the UK’s physics analysis group and enabling discovery at the limits of computational science.
Collaboration, analysis, and financial progress
Innovation at EPCC is rooted in collaboration. The Centre delivers superior computational analysis addressing complicated scientific and engineering challenges, working intently with universities, institutes, authorities, and trade to speed up influence.
EPCC builds and leads large-scale, multi-partner analysis consortia that translate computation into aggressive benefit. For instance, the £17m VECTA UKRI Prosperity Partnership with Rolls-Royce applies superior modelling and simulation to speed up the growth of sustainable aviation fuels and applied sciences.
Education and expertise for the future
Developing expertise is central to EPCC’s innovation mission. It trains the subsequent era of specialists by PhDs and MSc programmes in high-performance computing, knowledge science and AI, aligned with real-world trade wants.
Early-career innovation functionality is supported by internships, apprenticeships and placements, making certain that greatest observe developed at EPCC is disseminated throughout the UK.
EPCC leads nationwide initiatives to strengthen digital expertise, together with CAKE (Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange NetworkPlus) – a £1.6m UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme supporting information trade throughout the UK’s compute panorama.
Further innovation in expertise supply is pushed by the UKRI Digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) Skills NetworkPlus, together with:
- CHARTED, bettering coaching for HPC and analysis software program engineering.
- DRIFT, strengthening expertise for analysis facilitators and multidisciplinary groups.
Looking forward
As the first UK National Supercomputing Centre, EPCC will proceed to ship resilient nationwide companies whereas appearing as a catalyst for innovation – bridging analysis, trade, expertise, and coverage, because it prepares to host the Next National Supercomputing Service, the substitute for ARCHER2.
By aligning its platforms, experience and partnerships with the UK Compute Roadmap and international know-how traits, EPCC is making certain that superior computing continues to energy UK competitiveness, scientific management, and long-term financial progress by analysis, innovation, and adoption.