London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

Nvidia pledges to build Britain’s largest supercomputer following $40 billion bid for Arm

Nvidia pledges to build Britain’s largest supercomputer following $40 billion bid for Arm

U.S. chipmaker Nvidia pledged Monday to build a £40 million ($52 million) supercomputer in Cambridge, England, weeks after announcing it intends to buy British rival Arm for $40 billion.

U.S. chipmaker Nvidia pledged Monday to build a £40 million ($52 million) supercomputer in Cambridge, England, weeks after announcing it intends to buy British rival Arm for $40 billion.

The supercomputer — named “Cambridge-1” and intended for artificial intelligence (AI) research in health care — is being unveiled by Nvidia founder and Chief Executive Jensen Huang at the company’s GTC 2020 conference on Monday.

“Tackling the world’s most pressing challenges in health care requires massively powerful computing resources to harness the capabilities of AI,” Huang will say in his keynote. “The Cambridge-1 supercomputer will serve as a hub of innovation for the U.K., and further the groundbreaking work being done by the nation’s researchers in critical healthcare and drug discovery.”

Expected to launch by the end of the year, the Cambridge-1 machine will be the 29th most powerful computer in the world and the most powerful in Britain, Nvidia said.

Researchers at GSK, AstraZeneca, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust, King’s College London and Oxford Nanopore will be able to use the supercomputer to try to solve medical challenges, including those presented by the coronavirus.

“There are scientists that need a state-of-the-art computer and we are going to build one,” said Nvidia Vice President of Healthcare Kimberly Powell on a press call ahead of the announcement, adding that they’ll be able to do “large-scale research” that they otherwise “wouldn’t be able to do.”

Nvidia said Cambridge-1 will have 400 petaflops of “AI performance” and that it will rank in the top three most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world. A petaflop is a measure of a computer’s processing speed.

Matt Hancock, Britain’s health minister, said “accelerating drug discovery has never been so important” and that the investment can “make a real difference.”

“Nvidia’s new supercomputer will aid the U.K.’s best and brightest to undertake research that will save lives,” said Hancock in a statement.

The supercomputer, which can be set up in a matter of weeks, will be powered by 80 Nvidia systems that are connected together.

Asked if Nvidia expects to generate any revenue from Cambridge-1, Powell told CNBC that Cambridge-1 is “not a commercial endeavor.”

A.I. overhyped?

AI has so-far played a relatively minor role in tackling the pandemic. While there have been some successful niche applications, the likes of DeepMind, OpenAI, Facebook AI Research, and Microsoft, which have their own supercomputers, have remained relatively quiet as the coronavirus has spread around the world.

“This (pandemic) is showing what bulls--t most AI hype is,” said Neil Lawrence, the former director of machine learning at Amazon Cambridge, back in April.

“It’s great and it will be useful one day but it’s not surprising in a pandemic that we fall back on tried and tested techniques.”

Cambridge-1 isn’t the only supercomputer Nvidia plans to build in Cambridge.

When the Arm acquisition was announced on Sept. 13, Huang said Nvidia would set up a new Arm-based supercomputer at a yet to be established AI research center in the city.

Academics at the heart of the Cambridge tech scene questioned Nvidia’s commitment to the center last week, saying the lack of communication between Nvidia and the university was odd.

Powell said Cambridge-1 is “completely independent” of Arm, adding: “This is Nvidia building an AI supercomputer for our health care research.”

Nvidia’s Arm acquisition isn’t without its critics and it could still be blocked by either the U.K. government or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is responsible for regulating competition in the U.K. Last week, two tech investors told CNBC that they think the deal will be blocked by someone.

The U.K.’s opposition Labour party has said an Arm takeover is not in the public interest and criticized the ruling Conservative Party for failing to protect the British chip designer.

On Sept. 21, Labour lawmaker Daniel Zeichner, member of parliament for Cambridge, called on the government to place clear conditions on the takeover of Arm. He wants legal guarantees on jobs, Arm’s Cambridge headquarters, and its business model. Zeichner also said it’s important to ensure the U.K.’s tech sovereignty is defended.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
×