The most powerful machine, the El Capitan computer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, is 91 times faster.
Machines from the US, China, Russia, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the UAE, Netherlands, Taiwan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Australia, Austria and Sweden rank above Britain’s most powerful computer.
Britain has also fallen to 14th in the global rankings of total supercomputer power, measured in gigaflops, from 12th a year ago and 10th in 2022. A decade ago, Britain ranked in fifth place.
The Government is believed to be considering further funding for supercomputing and artificial intelligence systems after a spending review.
When it cancelled the proposed funding in August, it said it was taking “difficult and necessary spending decisions”.
Lord Vallance, the science minister, suggested recently that more funding would be forthcoming. “It is important that we get the AI and the exascale process sorted out, so that we have proper computer infrastructure right the way across the UK academic and business communities,” he told the House of Lords last month.
Matt Harris, the UK and Ireland managing director for HPE, which built the Archer2 system, said: “The UK’s position as a world leader in research and innovation is dependent on having world-class research infrastructure to enable our scientists and businesses to solve challenges at a societal and global scale.
“A lack of investment now, at a time when the European Union, and nations such as US, China, Japan, are making extensive investments into their own computing and AI infrastructure, risks the UK’s ability to nurture and attract top talent, and to deliver innovation and breakthroughs in science and industry.”