AMD Partners With Imperial College to Boost UK AI Research

AMD has formed a partnership with Imperial College London to advance AI research infrastructure and computational capacity in the UK. The collaboration will combine AMD computing platforms with Imperial research capabilities across scientific and healthcare disciplines.

The partnership targets AI model development, sovereign computing infrastructure and talent programmes for students and researchers. AMD will provide access to its accelerated computing systems and ROCm open software platform.

AI platforms for research

The two organisations will optimise AI models on AMD compute systems for deployment across multiple research areas. These include engineering design, multi-physics simulation and materials discovery applications.

Imperial researchers will access AMD hardware and software to support data-heavy computational workflows. The technical framework uses AMD ROCm open software to process scientific datasets and run AI training operations.

Dr Lisa Su, CEO and Chair at AMD, says: "AI and accelerated computing are transforming how researchers solve complex problems and turn discoveries into real-world impact."

She adds: "By combining AMD's leadership in AI and high-performance computing platforms with Imperial's globally recognised research and innovation ecosystem, we aim to help researchers tackle larger challenges, develop next-generation AI talent and advance open, interoperable sovereign AI infrastructure in the UK."

Applications across scientific domains

The collaboration will extend into climate and earth system modelling, neuroscience, brain imaging, epidemiology and biosecurity research. Additional focus areas include genomics and computational biology work requiring high-performance computing resources.

The AI infrastructure could support simulation workloads and machine learning model training for health and environmental science projects. Research teams will test AI workflows on AMD platforms to determine processing requirements for different scientific applications.

The partnership includes provisions for AI model benchmarking across AMD hardware configurations. Performance data could guide software optimisation for specific research use cases.

Workforce development and sovereign infrastructure

Imperial will run education initiatives using AMD computing resources at multiple London campus locations. These include South Kensington, Paddington Life Sciences, the White City Innovation District and the Old Oak Innovation Cluster.

The programmes will offer workshops, seminars and internships for students and early-career researchers. Startups and innovators in the WestTech London innovation ecosystem will access pilot programmes using AMD platforms.

Lord Vallance, UK Science Minister, says: "This partnership between AMD and Imperial will combine world-class computing and AI expertise with engineering and research to help tackle some of the toughest challenges we face, from healthcare to our changing climate."

The collaboration supports the development of UK sovereign AI capabilities through locally accessible computing resources. Imperial researchers will operate AMD systems within UK data centres for sensitive research workloads.

Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College London, says: "Imperial College London is committed to advancing world-leading research and innovation that delivers real-world impact."

He adds: "Working with AMD creates new opportunities to expand opportunities for researchers, students and innovators to access advanced AI and accelerated computing infrastructure working across scientific, engineering and healthcare disciplines."