Skinflint Starmer Stabs Scotland’s Supercomputer

The British are stumbling out of the exascale computing race, and it’s a sobering reminder as to why the US must keep ahead of China.

“Axed” blared the headline when new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party government cut the University of Edinburgh’s planned supercomputer as part of a massive budget overhaul.  Axed: £800m Edinburgh University ‘exascale’ supercomputer victim of Labour spending cuts

Britain is a top American ally.  For decades, the US and Britain have cooperated on leading technology, from early jet engines to modern stealth fighters, nuclear submarines, and more.  The exascale computer was supposed to contribute to the financial services sector and other economic development. 

“Labour don’t seem to get how AI works,” a Scottish Government minister lamented. 

Scotland was chosen for the new exascale computer, set to be 50 times more powerful than supercomputer ARCHER2, also at the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Computer facility.

“There has been a global rush to build the next generation of immensely powerful exascale supercomputers and the project was considered to be a priority,” reported The Scotsman.  Another £500 million pounds for AI initiatives vanished, too.  Nor does Britain have the deep bench of leading technology companies to fall back on. 

So far, the UK has taken its own path on AI rules, preferring less regulation than the EU, and keeping focus on the projected $1 trillion value of AI in the United Kingdom’s economy by 2035.

Still, the incident shows US allies may struggle to stay in the race for AI and advanced computing.  An exception is Japan’s Fugaku, a nickname for Mount Fuji, which is open for business on web services. 

Learn about US exascale computers Frontier, Lawrence Livermore’s El Capitan, and Argonne’s Aurora.

What’s exascale computing? Find out here