THE UK Labour Government has shelved an £800 million plan to build a state-of-the-art supercomputer at Edinburgh University.
The high-tech exascale supercomputer was part of £1.3 billion of funding promised by the previous government for tech and artificial intelligence (AI) projects which were announced in the Autumn Statement last year.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said the money was promised by the Conservatives but was never allocated in its budget.
A spokesperson for the UK Government confirmed the £800m plans for the world-class technology at the Scottish university will not be taken further.
Edinburgh University spent £31m building housing for the exascale supercomputer when funding was announced in October last year.
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, the first phase of installing the supercomputer was expected to begin in 2025.
A spokesperson for the university said: “The University of Edinburgh has led the way in supercomputing within the UK for decades, and is ready to work with the government to support the next phase of this technology in the UK, in order to unlock its benefits for industry, public services and society.”
The University of Edinburgh's principal and vice-chancellor, professor Peter Mathieson, is now urgently seeking a meeting with the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology over the decision to scrap the funding.
Trade body techUK has urged the government to make “new proposals quickly” as the UK risks “losing out” to other countries in crucial industries of the future.
A total of £500m of the £1.3bn funding was to go towards AI Research Resource which funds computing power for AI and has also been scrapped.
An additional £300m to the AI Research Resource has been committed to, the Government said, as the funding was already in place, has been distributed and will continue as planned.
SNP's Angus Robertson has called the decision by the UK Government to shelve the funding for the supercomputer “absolutely shocking and “short-sighted”.
He said: “Terrible News: UK Labour is cutting a project for Edinburgh worth nearly ONE BILLION POUNDS!
“Absolutely shocking, short-sighted and damaging to Edinburgh and Scotland’s economy, education and tech sector.”
A spokesperson for the DSIT said: “We are absolutely committed to building technology infrastructure that delivers growth and opportunity for people across the UK.
“The UK Government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth.
“We have launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan which will identify how we can bolster our compute infrastructure to better suit our needs and consider how AI and other emerging technologies can best support our new Industrial Strategy.”
It is reported that those affected have been notified by Secretary of State, Peter Kyle.
