Edinburgh could still get Exascale super-computer, Ian Murray hints
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Plans for the £800 million Exascale computer to be based at Edinburgh University were first announced by the last UK government in October 2023. But soon after taking office, the new Labour government shelved the project, saying no money had ever been allocated for it.
However, Prime Minister Keir Starmer this week unveiled plans for the UK to become a "superpower" in AI, which he said would revolutionise public services and help turn around Britain's economy.


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Hide AdAppearing at the Scottish Parliament's economy committee on Wednesday, Mr Murray, who is MP for Edinburgh South, was challenged over why Oxford rather than Edinburgh had been chosen as the UK's first AI growth zone. He told the MSPs that Edinburgh would play a key role in the AI strategy. "Edinburgh has a very bright future ahead of it," he said.
SNP MSP Willie Coffey said Edinburgh University had spent £30m preparing for the Exascale computer and asked if there was any chance it would get that money back. Mr Murray said: "I'm hopeful that the investment that's been made will not have been wasted."
He told the committee the Exascale project for Edinburgh University had been announced four times by the previous government but there was "not a penny attached". “Not only was there no money behind it, nobody in the previous government had even asked the Treasury for it.”
He added: "It was unfair to continue with a proposal with Edinburgh University that was unfunded and couldn't be funded, but I'm hopeful we will get there as we approach the spending review."
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Hide AdAnd after the meeting, Mr Murray told reporters Edinburgh was the "world capital" of Artificial Intelligence, pointing out the university had had an Artificial Intelligence unit since 1964.
He insisted the Exascale project had not been cancelled. "The £800m wasn't axed, the project was paused because the £800m didn't exist. Edinburgh University as an organisation understands that and we are working with them have been doing so since the announcement was made, in terms of what happens next, but it will be resolved in the spending review."
Asked if there were still plans to build the Exascale here, he said: "Edinburgh is the AI capital of the world and has been since 1964, so I think Edinburgh is well placed."
The capacity of an Exascale computer was spelled out by Mark Parsons, professor of high-performance computing at Edinburgh University, in an interview last year. He said: "If all seven billion humans in the world were to complete one sum per second, 12 hours a day, it would take nine years to complete the same number of calculations an Exascale computer does each second.”
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