UK commits £45 million to Sunrise, a fusion-dedicated AI supercomputer at Culham

The Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, home to Sunrise, the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer dedicated to fusion energy.

(Image courtesy of Culham Campus / UKAEA)

The UK government has announced £45 million in funding for a new AI supercomputer named Sunrise, to be built at the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) Culham Campus in Oxfordshire. Backed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and scheduled for operation in June this year, it will be the world’s most powerful AI supercomputer dedicated to fusion energy research.

Delivering up to 6.76 Exaflops of AI‑accelerated computing power, Sunrise will allow researchers to run high‑fidelity simulations and create digital twins of complex fusion systems. Its computing capacity is directed at three of fusion science’s toughest challenges: modelling plasma turbulence, developing advanced materials, and achieving tritium fuel breeding, an essential step towards fuel self‑sufficiency in future reactors.

The system is being delivered by a consortium that includes AMD, Dell Technologies, Intel, WEKA, the University of Cambridge, and UKAEA, with DESNZ and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as government partners. The hardware combines AMD EPYC processors and AMD Instinct GPU acceleration on Dell PowerEdge platforms, while WEKA provides the storage architecture to keep performance consistent across the system.

Testing in the virtual world before the real one

Dr Rob Akers, UKAEA’s Director for Computing Programmes, compared the investment to the ambition of the Apollo programme. He said Sunrise will let researchers explore fusion systems virtually before committing to costly physical experiments. By combining high‑fidelity simulation with physics‑informed AI, teams can build predictive digital twins that cut the time, cost and risk of traditional test campaigns.

Two flagship programmes at the UK Atomic Energy Authority will be the main users of Sunrise. The STEP Fusion programme, the nation’s leading initiative to demonstrate fusion energy by the 2040s, and the LIBRTI programme, focused on tritium fuel‑cycle development, will both benefit from the ability to test and refine designs digitally, running multiple simulation cycles without waiting years for experimental results.

Culham, Cambridge, and the UK’s sovereign computing vision

The University of Cambridge is co‑designing, delivering, and operating Sunrise alongside Dell, AMD, and the UK AI software specialist StackHPC. Dr Paul Calleja, Director of Cambridge’s Research Computing Service, described the project as “an important first step in the UK’s bold vision to strengthen its sovereign scientific computing capability.” Sunrise builds on the government’s £36 million investment in the Cambridge supercomputing centre in January 2026, extending that capability directly into fusion research.

In parallel, Culham Campus will become home to the UK’s first AI Growth Zone, a move designed to concentrate high‑value computing and AI infrastructure around the country’s fusion hub. For the research teams and private fusion ventures already based there, it brings exaflop‑class AI power to the experimental programmes that need it most.

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