STFC Launches New AI Supercomputer to Help UK Industry Accelerate Innovation
On Thursday, October 23, 2025, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced the launch of a powerful new supercomputer designed to support UK industry in making breakthroughs through artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing. Named after Mary Coombs, the UK’s first female commercial programmer, the Mary Coombs supercomputer is located within the STFC’s new £30 million Supercomputing Centre at its Daresbury Laboratory. It will provide businesses and public sector organizations of all sizes with access to world-class computing power and expertise.
The Hartree Centre, located at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in Sci-Tech Daresbury, Liverpool City Region, is the UK’s only supercomputing center dedicated to working with industry to advance digital innovation. With leading experts in supercomputing, AI, and data science, the Hartree Centre helps businesses tackle complex challenges and turn ideas into practical innovations that strengthen the economy and benefit society.
Director of the STFC Hartree Centre, Professor Kate Royse, stated, “Our new Mary Coombs supercomputer at the Hartree Centre provides UK industry with the computing power, expertise, and skills needed to turn ambitious ideas into real-world solutions. From drug discovery to climate research, businesses can process vast and complex datasets faster and more efficiently than ever before, without needing in-house supercomputing or AI expertise.”
The new supercomputer has ten times the processing power of its predecessor, Scafell Pike, while also being more energy efficient. With a 24.41 petaflop system, it can perform 24.41 quadrillion floating-point calculations per second. The GPU-based supercomputer is designed for AI workloads and advanced visualization, marking a significant advancement in the Hartree Centre’s computing capabilities.
The Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, stated, “The impact of the pioneering work happening at Daresbury can be felt far beyond our region, and this new supercomputer will turbocharge those capabilities even further.” He continued, “From cutting edge AI research to breakthroughs in health innovation and climate science, the impact of the pioneering work happening at Daresbury can be felt far beyond our region, and this new supercomputer will turbocharge those capabilities even further.”
The new STFC Supercomputing Centre and Mary Coombs supercomputer are a significant national asset for research and innovation. The facility is a vital part of the UK’s digital innovation strategy and is expected to drive growth and opportunity across the nation. It forms part of the £210 million Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI) program, a collaboration between STFC and IBM. The program helps UK businesses and public sector organizations explore and adopt advanced digital technologies, such as AI, quantum computing, and data analytics, to boost productivity and growth. The launch of the new STFC Supercomputing Centre also supports the Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.
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