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Five sites for high performance computing centres have been selected across the EU to host and operate the next generation of European supercomputers. Germany will host the first European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking supercomputer with exascale capabilities. Four new mid-range supercomputers will be hosted in Greece, Hungary, Ireland, and Poland.
JUPITER, the first EuroHPC JU exascale supercomputer
On June 15 2022, the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) announced that the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (Forschungszentrum Jülich - FZJ) in Germany has been selected to host and operate a high-end exascale supercomputer, i.e. a machine able to perform at least one exaflop (a billion billion operations per second). The JUPITER supercomputer, the first of its kind in the EU is expected to rank among the top three supercomputers in the world.
Exascale capability represents a major technological milestone for the EU, with great scientific, industrial, and societal relevance. It will allow to address problems of utmost importance that were impossible to solve some years ago in domains of great importance for European citizens such as health, biology, climate, energy, security, and materials. A positive impact on European scientific excellence is expected as unprecedented level of computations and higher accuracy will improve the quality, and lower the cost of research.
Four new mid-range supercomputers
The EuroHPC JU has also announced that the National Infrastructures for Research and Technology (GRNET) in Greece, the Governmental Agency for IT Development (KIFU) in Hungary, the National University of Ireland Galway and the Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET AGH (CYFRONET) in Poland have been selected to host four new mid-range (petascale and pre-exascale) supercomputers. These machines will be available to serve a wide range of European users in the research and scientific community, as well as industry and the public sector. DAEDALUS (GR), LEVENTE (HU), CASPIr (IE), and EHPCPL (PL) supercomputers will enable the further development of novel scientific and industrial applications (e.g. precision medicine, development of new drugs, treatments and materials, the fight against climate change, and bioengineering).
A partnership between the EuroHPC JU and the hosting entities
The hosting entities were selected following a call for expression of interest launched in December 2021 by the EuroHPC JU in line with the Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173.
The new supercomputers will be funded by the Digital Europe Programme, the Horizon Europe Programme, and by contributions from the JU’s Participating States. The JU will co-fund up to 50% of the total cost of the exascale supercomputer with a maximum financial contribution of EUR 250 million, and up to 35% of the total cost of the mid-range supercomputers with a total maximum contribution of EUR 120 million. The complementary amount will be covered by the Participating State, where the hosting entity is established, or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium. The five selected hosting entities will operate the supercomputers on behalf of the EuroHPC JU.
In the next months, the EuroHPC JU will sign agreements with the selected hosting entities, which will enable a stable and structured partnership for the acquisition and operation of the supercomputers. The supercomputers are expected to become operational during 2023 for European users from academia, industry, and the public sector. The calls for tender for their procurement are expected to be published shortly.
More information is available in this press release by the EuroHPC JU.
Background
The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity created in 2018 to enable the EU and EuroHPC participating countries to coordinate their efforts and pool their resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing. In July 2021, the Council adopted the EuroHPC JU Regulation, bringing a further investment of EUR 7 billion to provide the newest supercomputers and quantum computers, and to support the EU’s ambitious HPC research and innovation agenda.
The EuroHPC JU has already started to equip the EU with a world-class infrastructure of pre-exascale and petascale supercomputers, and to develop the necessary technologies, applications and skills for reaching full exascale capabilities by 2023. To date, five supercomputers are now fully operational: LUMI in Finland (which ranks number 3 in the world), Vega in Slovenia, MeluXina in Luxembourg, Discoverer in Bulgaria, and Karolina in the Czech Republic. Three further supercomputers will shortly be available: LEONARDO in Italy, MareNostrum5 in Spain, and Deucalion in Portugal.