London, UK — 13 March 2026 — PhysicsX today announced its partnership with the British America’s Cup team, GB1, as Official AI Engineering Platform Partner for its entry to the 38th America’s Cup, taking place in Naples, Italy in 2027.
With the team officially back on the water in Cagliari, Italy, on March 9, the partnership marks a pivotal phase in the run-up to next year's competition.
PhysicsX will deploy its AI-native engineering platform, which combines deep learning and frontier physics-based modeling to accelerate engineering insight and support system-level optimization across the campaign, helping the team learn faster, explore a broader design space, and enhance performance within the constraints of the America’s Cup Protocol.
Supporting One of the Toughest Technical Challenges in Sport
The America’s Cup has long been recognized as one of the most technically demanding competitions in global sport.
America's Cup race boats operate at the intersection of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, structural mechanics and control systems, and performance depends on how these systems work together under extreme conditions.
In a competition where races are often decided by seconds — and design advantages can determine an entire campaign — the ability to model, test, and optimize full-system behavior is critical.
One Team. Embedded Engineering.
Reflecting GB1’s "One Team” ethos, PhysicsX is working alongside engineers in Portsmouth as an embedded partner. Its AI-native engineering platform integrates directly into active development programs, strengthening the feedback loop between simulation, data, and on-water results.
The goal is to support the team in delivering performance gains responsibly, within cost caps and regulatory constraints, and in a way that complements GB1’s performance-focused, data-driven culture.
By accelerating traditionally sequential simulation cycles and enabling near real-time engineering insight through enhanced modeling, the PhysicsX platform helps GB1’s engineers explore and optimize the full-system behavior of their race boat.
The embedded nature of the partnership allows PhysicsX to co-engineer AI capabilities alongside the team, delivering tangible impact in the hands of engineers within a highly demanding environment.
Innovation with Purpose
Our joint purpose is to win the America’s Cup for Great Britain, make history and inspire future generations. Innovation sits at the heart of that ambition.
By accelerating iteration and expanding the design space available to engineers, the PhysicsX platform contributes to a broader innovation journey — one that builds on Britain’s rich sailing heritage while helping shape the future of high-performance engineering.
Performance DNA
This collaboration reflects the frontier engineering DNA behind PhysicsX. With deep roots in F1 and other high-performance industries, the company understands that elite competition is decided in the margins — where the final one percent determines the podium.
By strengthening the loop between modeling, data, and real-world validation, PhysicsX enables the Athena Racing team to iterate faster, test more aggressively, and compound marginal gains at scale.
A New Tempo for Competitive Engineering
“The America’s Cup represents the hardest technical challenge in sport and one of the most respected stages for engineering excellence,” said Jacomo Corbo, CEO & Co-Founder of PhysicsX. “It’s a competition defined by discipline, precision and teamwork. With our background in high-performance engineering, we recognize how marginal gains are earned — through rigorous modeling, continuous optimization, and collective effort. Physics AI allows engineers to interact with system-level behavior in near real time, turning simulation into a more dynamic part of the development process. We’re incredibly proud to support GB1 at this stage of the campaign and to contribute to the team's competitive advantage at such a pivotal moment.”
“This collaboration represents a powerful opportunity to combine PhysicsX’s AI-native engineering platform with the exceptional technical capability of the GB1, in pursuit of one of the most demanding prizes in global sport," said David Wheater, Director of Delivery at PhysicsX. "The range of sea states, wind conditions, and operating scenarios the team must design for is vast. Exploring that full design space using traditional methods alone is inherently constrained by time. Our platform enables engineers to interact with that complexity far more dynamically, optimizing across both design and operating conditions in seconds rather than hours. With both organizations grounded in engineering excellence, the partnership has felt natural from the outset. It’s a privilege to work alongside Nick Holroyd and the wider technical team, supporting GB1 as they continue their pursuit of the 2027 America’s Cup.”
GB1 Head of Design, Nick Holroyd commented: “The scale and complexity of the engineering challenge in the America’s Cup means that the teams who can best integrate data, simulation and real-world performance will have a clear advantage. Partnering with PhysicsX allows our designers to build higher fidelity models, with lower data costs and quicker turn around. The result is faster design iteration and greater insight into complex performance interactions, helping GB1 push the boundaries of performance.”
About PhysicsX
PhysicsX is a physics AI company on a mission to accelerate innovation and overhaul what engineering and manufacturing look like today. The company is building a new software stack to deliver deep AI enablement across the entire engineering lifecycle. PhysicsX partners with leading organizations in aerospace & defense, automotive, semiconductors, materials, and energy & renewables, supporting them on some of their most critical and complex challenges. PhysicsX is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in London and New York. For press inquiries, contact press@physicsx.ai.
About GB1
GB1 is Britain’s America’s Cup Challenger and the representative of the Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup.
GB1 is the new identiity of the British America’s Cup team founded by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2014 that has competed in the last three America’s Cups. The team made history in 2024 as the first British squad in 60 years to qualify for the America’s Cup Match, the first in 90 years to score points in the Match, and the first ever to win the America’s Cup Challenger Series. These achievements marked Britain’s most successful performance in the competition’s history.
GB1 is backed by Oakley Capital, the investment firm co-founded by Managing Partner Peter Dubens, which has taken a majority ownership investment in the America’s Cup team.
GB1’s challenge for the America’s Cup will be the fourth time Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team represents the Challenger of Record, Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd, based in Cowes, UK. One of the oldest and most prestigious yacht clubs in the world, the Royal Yacht Squadron dates back to 1815 and was the key architect of the original race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, which became known as the America’s Cup.
The America’s Cup, the pinnacle of yachting and the world’s oldest international sporting trophy was first contested in 1851 in Cowes, Isle of Wight, predating the modern Olympic Games by 45 years. In challenging for a fourth successive America’s Cup, GB1 benefits from much-needed continuity, the cornerstone of every successful America’s Cup team.
Website // www.GB1.com
Contact // media@gb1.com