American supercomputer giant Cray has opened its new European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in Bristol – strengthening the city’s reputation as a hotbed for IT innovation.
A global leader in supercomputing, Cray is behind the Met Office’s new £97m supercomputer in Exeter – set to be one of the largest in Europe – and already has strong links with Bristol’s burgeoning tech community. 
The firm acquired a 15-strong team of engineers from the administrators of Bristol-based high-performance computer specialist Gnodal along with some key intellectual property (IP) in November 2013.
Seattle-headquartered Cray decided to use the widely-respected team as a basis to build its own European R&D in Bristol.
It has now opened its base in Broad Quay House in the city centre with a staff of 30 and ambitious plans to grow it further.
The move makes Cray the latest in a string of global tech businesses to set up in the Bristol, joining the likes of Somo, the world’s largest independent mobile solutions company, Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, and Just Eat, the leading online takeaway service.
Rick Chapman, hi-tech sector specialist at inward investment agency Invest Bristol & Bath, said: “Cray’s decision is testament to the fact that the Bristol and Bath region is seen globally as an economic powerhouse and the home of a world-class high-tech cluster.
“The region has a rich heritage and associated skill set spanning an array of hi-tech disciplines including cloud computing, multicore processor design and high-speed communications, areas of technology integral to the development of cutting-edge innovations such as supercomputers, autonomous cars and robots.
“It is also a key hub for innovation in high-performance computing, which is hailed as the future of data processing, so it is not a surprise that Cray has chosen Bristol as its European base.
“Having the company’s EMEA HQ and research hub located in the city adds another string to Bristol and Bath’s bow and will undoubtedly attract further inward investment into the region.”
Other examples of recent investment by global businesses in the city include South African giant MMI Holdings acquiring home-grown fintech company Blue Speck Financial and Twitter snapping up Bristol-based tech firm SecondSync.
Last year McKinsey & Co and Centre for Cities highlighted the Bristol and Bath region UK’s only fast-growing and globally-significant hi-tech cluster, while Bristol was recently chosen to as a testbed for cutting-edge Future Cities technology, including driverless cars.
Cray was established in 1972 when Seymour Cray – now regarded as the ‘father of supercomputing’ – founded Cray Research in his hometown of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Its continual innovation placed it at the forefront of efforts to develop evermore powerful computers. It opened its first UK office in 1979.
Cray now works with a range of users from scientists and government labs to financial analysts and sports teams.
