How is the UK’s first National Supercomputing Center (EPCC) working to strengthen the UK’s role as a leader in high performance computing?
EPCC, part of the University of Edinburgh, has been driving supercomputing innovation in the UK for over 30 years. Over the past decade, its mission has expanded to include data science and artificial intelligence (AI), putting EPCC at the forefront of technologies that are reshaping research, industry, and public services. As the UK’s first national supercomputing centre, EPCC works at scale with government, academia and industry to accelerate the uptake of breakthrough digital technologies and transform computing power into economic and social value.
Promoting national innovation capacity
Founded by the University of Edinburgh in 1990 as the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Center (now known simply as EPCC), the center has evolved into a national engine for innovation in advanced computing, data science and AI. It now plays a central role in shaping and delivering the UK Government’s ambitions, turning cutting-edge research and infrastructure into practical capabilities, new services and competitive advantage for the UK.
UK National Supercomputing Center
In 2025, EPCC was named the UK’s first national supercomputing centre, placing it at the heart of the government’s UK Computing Roadmap – the national strategy to build world-leading supercomputing and AI infrastructure and expertise.
As part of a planned network of national supercomputing centers, EPCC will operate as a hub of innovation and expertise, lowering barriers to advanced computing and fostering new collaborations across industry, academia, and the public sector. These centers are at the heart of the UK’s ambitions to stimulate economic growth, transform public services, accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation technologies and lead the world in AI and HPC. This innovation-driven approach builds on EPCC’s 30-year track record of translating computing power into real-world impact.
Pilot: UK AI Factory Antenna
EPCC plays a pivotal role in strengthening the UK AI innovation ecosystem and re-engaging with the wider European HPC and AI community through Pilot: UK AI Factory Antenna (Pilot-UKAIFA), a €10m (£8.6m) co-funded joint EU-UK initiative launched in 2025.
Co-funded by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaining (EuroHPC JU), 13 AI Factory antennas are being established across Europe to integrate compute, data and talent and accelerate applied AI innovation and collaboration, building on the 19 AI Factories established to date. Pilot-UKAIFA connects UK organizations directly to this ecosystem, co-funded by the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Through Pilot-UKAIFA, EPCC will enable UK businesses to access advanced computing and AI resources, take part in applied AI projects and test new approaches in real-world operational situations. The project will be supported by EPCC’s Edinburgh International Data Facility and European AI Factory Infrastructure, complemented by UK and European AI Competence Centers and skills development, training and networking provided.
Pilot-UKAIFA is coordinated by HLRS (High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart) and delivered by EPCC in partnership with HammerHAI AI Factory, in collaboration with a consortium of leading German research institutions.
National computing platform for innovation
EPCC plays a key role in developing, evolving and operating the computing platforms that underpin UK research and innovation. For the past 30 years, the company has operated all but one of the UK’s national HPC services, ensuring world-class systems deliver maximum value to science, engineering and industry.
ARCHAR2: National Supercomputing Service
The UK’s current National Supercomputing Service, ARCHER2, is a 5,860-node HPE Cray EX system with a capacity of 28 petaflops. We provide a flexible and high-impact environment for advanced research and innovation across disciplines.
Through ARCHER2’s user support, software development, and outreach programs, EPCC will strengthen research capacity, improve software sustainability, and expand the social relevance of supercomputing.
According to an independent analysis, ARCHER2 delivered over £4.2 billion of economic benefit to the UK during its five years of operation, of which £3.7 billion came from research and development carried out directly on the system.
Cirrus: UKRI National Computing Resource
New Cirrus is a state-of-the-art 256-node HPE Cray EX4000 system designed to support simulation, modeling, data science, and AI-driven innovation. As an early realization of the UK Computing Roadmap, the new Cirrus will more than double in size through £19.5m of UKRI investment, significantly increasing the UK’s computing capacity. Currently available for research and innovation in its current form, expanded resources will be available from late 2026.
Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF)
Edinburgh International Data Facility is a world-class private research cloud designed to support data-driven innovation. Designed and operated by EPCC, EIDF underpins Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Trading’s data-driven innovation program and is continually evolving in response to user needs.
EIDF provides access to advanced emerging AI technologies, including the Cerebras CS-3 wafer-scale engine. EPCC hosts Europe’s largest research deployment of this technology. This capability enables a new class of AI research and rapid experimentation at scale.
EPCC also operates trusted research environments such as the Scottish National Safe Haven, which uses sensitive data to deliver safe and controlled innovation for projects with clear public interest.
Tursa: Ultra-large scale computing in British physics
EPCC hosts Tursa, a GPU-based extreme scaling system for the DiRAC consortium, providing advanced computing and expert services support to the UK physics research community, enabling discoveries at the limits of computational science.
Collaboration, research and economic growth
EPCC’s innovation is rooted in collaboration. The center works closely with universities, research institutions, government, and industry to deliver advanced computational research that addresses complex science and engineering challenges to accelerate impact.
EPCC builds and leads large multi-partner research consortia that transform computation into competitive advantage. For example, our £17m VECTA UKRI Prosperity Partnership with Rolls-Royce applies advanced modeling and simulation to accelerate the development of sustainable aviation fuels and technologies.
Education and skills for the future
Talent development is central to EPCC’s innovation mission. We train the next generation of specialists through PhD and master’s degree programs in high-performance computing, data science, and AI, tailored to real-world industry needs.
Early career innovation capabilities are supported through internships, apprenticeships and placements, ensuring best practice developed at EPCC is disseminated across the UK.
EPCC leads national initiatives to strengthen digital skills, including CAKE (Computational Abilities Knowledge Exchange NetworkPlus), a £1.6 million UKRI digital research infrastructure program that supports knowledge exchange across the UK’s computing landscape.
Further innovation in skills delivery will be driven through the UKRI Digital Research Technical Professional (dRTP) Skills NetworkPlus, which includes:
CHARTED improves HPC and research software engineering training. DRIFT strengthens the skills of research facilitators and interdisciplinary teams.
Looking to the future
As the UK’s first national supercomputing centre, EPCC will continue to deliver a resilient national service, acting as a catalyst for innovation bridging research, industry, skills and policy, as it prepares to host the next national supercomputing service to replace ARCHER2.
EPCC aligns its platform, expertise and partnerships with the UK’s computing roadmap and global technology trends to ensure advanced computing continues to drive the UK’s competitiveness, scientific leadership and long-term economic growth through research, innovation and deployment.
This article will be published in an upcoming HPC Special Focus Publication.
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