A Franco-German consortium, spearheaded by Germany’s ParTec and a unit of France’s Atos, has announced a groundbreaking agreement to supply Europe’s inaugural Exascale supercomputer. This landmark deal is part of the European Union’s concerted efforts to close the technology gap with the United States in next-generation computing.
The consortium, a collaboration of technological prowess, sealed the agreement with EuroHPC, a joint venture involving the EU, European countries, and private enterprises, with the common objective of advancing supercomputing capabilities across Europe.
Supercomputers represent a quantum leap in computing power compared to traditional systems. An Exascale supercomputer, for instance, has the capacity to execute a staggering one quintillion calculations per second.
The total value of this historic initiative stands at an impressive €500 million (approximately $524 million). The agreement signifies the creation of “JUPITER,” a supercomputer set to be established at the German Julich Supercomputing Centre.
The consortium stated, “JUPITER will have three times the computing capability of Europe’s current most powerful supercomputer,” underlining the significance of this technological leap. Notably, the new system will occupy an area roughly equivalent to four tennis courts, illustrating the colossal scale of this state-of-the-art computing facility.
This development is a significant stride forward in establishing Europe’s foothold in the global race towards achieving Exascale computing capabilities, marking a milestone in the continent’s technological evolution and fostering innovation across a myriad of sectors.
