Sunrise fusion research supercomputer at Culham
Sunrise is a £45 million, 1.4 MW AI supercomputer at UKAEA’s Culham Campus, owned by UKAEA and operated by the University of Cambridge. It is intended to support fusion research through simulation, data analysis and digital models of complex systems.[1]
Current position
On 14 September 2026, UKAEA and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory signed a declaration of intent to explore linking Sunrise with the US STELLAR-AI platform. The proposed federation would train shared AI models using data from the MAST Upgrade and NSTX-U fusion experiments. UKAEA’s strategy had targeted operations from September 2026, following an earlier June target; actual commissioning remains unconfirmed.
Benefits
- The system is designed for up to 6.76 exaflops of AI-accelerated modelling, supporting research into plasma turbulence, materials and tritium fuel breeding. Its hardware includes 672 GPUs, direct liquid cooling and an advanced storage system.