Wedoany.com Report-Oct. 13, The British government, through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), has initiated early discussions with industry to prepare for the procurement of a new supercomputer, the Next National Supercomputing Service (NNSS), to be based at the University of Edinburgh. The process is set to formally begin on February 4, 2026, pending approval from relevant government bodies, including the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Treasury.

Announced in June 2025 as part of the UK Compute Roadmap during the Spending Review by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, the project includes an investment of up to £750 million (approximately $1 billion). The estimated budget for the supercomputer system itself ranges from £300 million to £330 million ($400 million to $440 million). The NNSS aims to provide advanced computing resources for UK researchers and innovators, supporting modeling, simulation, and AI-driven workflows.

UKRI has issued a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice to attract vendors capable of supplying high-performance computing hardware, storage solutions, and advanced CPU and GPU technologies. To facilitate collaboration, UKRI plans to hold pre-market engagement events in November 2025, including potential in-person meetings with vendors at the SC25 high-performance computing conference in St. Louis, Missouri, from November 17–20.

A UKRI representative stated: “The NNSS will provide a compute infrastructure for the UK’s research and innovation communities to use modeling, simulation, and AI workflows.” The system, expected to be operational by 2027, will leverage next-generation chips to handle both traditional and AI-based workloads, with a capacity projected to rank among the top five supercomputers globally at the time.

The contract, covering September 2026 to August 2031 with a possible extension to August 2033, will not prioritize achieving exascale performance, unlike earlier discussions. Instead, the focus is on delivering a versatile, high-capacity system to meet diverse computational needs.

Potential vendors include HPE, which previously built the Isambard 3 and Isambard-AI systems for the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, and Atos, whose Eviden subsidiary constructed Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, Jupiter. Other contenders may include Lenovo, which secured a contract with the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre, as well as Dell, IBM, and Fujitsu, all of which have experience in high-performance computing projects.

This initiative underscores the UK’s commitment to advancing its research capabilities through cutting-edge technology. The Edinburgh-based NNSS is expected to drive innovation across various sectors, enhancing the country’s position in global scientific and technological development.