Jülich Forschungszentrum
JUPITER will be Europe’s first exascale computer – capable of over one billion billion calculations per second. Once fully installed and operational on the campus of the Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Supercomputing Centre) in 2023 it will see European supercomputing take first place in the world. It is a momentous step forward for supercomputing in Europe and an enormous boon to European science.
As such, with some of the greatest computing power on earth, JUPITER will support the development of high-precision models of complex systems. These models will simulate conditions and solutions to challenges such as climate change and, drug discovery, decoding the human brain, developing tsunami early warning systems as well as contributing to the creation of sustainable energy production.
It will also enable the intensive use of artificial intelligence and the analysis of extremely large data volumes including for the Destination Earth initiative. This initiative will develop on a global scale a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth to better understand climate change and extreme weather events and their impacts, and monitor and predict the interaction between natural phenomena and human activities at an unprecedented scale.
This massive computing power will be designed with a strong consideration for sustainability and eco-conscious supercomputing. It will be powered by green electricity, and cooled by an energy-efficient water cooling system.
JUPITER will be available to serve a wide range of European users, no matter where in Europe they are located, in the scientific communities, as well as industry, and the public sector. Access to the computing resources of the new machine will be jointly managed by the EuroHPC JU and Germany.
This supercomputer will have a maximum budget of €500 million and it will be co-funded 50% by the European Union and 50% by the German government (in equal parts by by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW).
Next Steps
The hosting agreement, which has now been signed, lays out the terms and conditions for each party. The procurement process for this new supercomputer will be managed by EuroHPC JU and shall be launched shortly.
Background
In June 2022, the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking announced the selection of new sites to host new world-class supercomputers in Germany, Poland, Ireland, Greece and Hungary. These hosting entities have been selected as a result of two calls for expression of interest launched in December 2021.
In order to equip Europe with a world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured eight supercomputers, located across Europe. Six supercomputers are now operational: LUMI in Finland, LEONARDO in Italy, Vega in Slovenia, MeluXina in Luxembourg, Discoverer in Bulgaria and Karolina in the Czech Republic. Two more supercomputers are also underway: MareNostrum5 in Spain and Deucalion in Portugal.