Europe first exaFLOPS supercomputer should fire up in less than a year

Forward-looking: European research institutions have pledged to build the most powerful "AI supercomputer" in the world. The Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research, or JUPITER, is set to become the first exascale-class supercomputer built in Europe. The HPC super-system is scheduled to go into operation later this year.

The Jülich Supercomputing Center (JSC) and French company Eviden signed a deal to build a new modular data center to host the JUPITER supercomputer. Europe's supercomputer consortium, EuroHPC JU, commissioned JUPITER in October 2023. Upon completion, it will be the first European supercomputer capable of processing one exaFLOPS (one quintillion floating-point operations per second). Scientists expect exascale-class supercomputers to bring unprecedented technology breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biology, chemistry, and astrophysics research.

The JSC has decided to take an entirely new approach with JUPITER. The data center destined to host the powerful supercomputer will have around 50 container modules installed across 2,300 square meters. Container modules are becoming an "increasingly prevalent" design for building high-performance computing (HPC) systems, as they provide significant advantages over the traditional "brick and mortar" data center design.

The containers will include 20 IT, 15 power, and 10 logistic modules. The JSC explains that each IT module forms an independent unit working with an energy supply container.

Thanks to the modular approach, JUPITER construction and delivery time is reduced by 50 percent. This building method will allow the exascale supercomputer to come online in under a year and at significantly lower costs. When newer generations arrive, upgrade operations to the rack hardware will be easier thanks to the flexibility of the modular design.

Power and cooling infrastructure will also be easier to adapt to new requirements, as it will only require replacing old containers with newer ones. Furthermore, using less material and better recycling options in data centers made of steel containers make for a more sustainable operation.

According to Astrid Lambrecht, JSC's board of directors chair, JUPITER's modular design is ideally suited to integrate future technology advancements such as quantum or neuromorphic computing. Jülich Supercomputing Center Director Thomas Lippert said that the modular data center will be located in Germany to meet the unprecedented power supply required by the JUPITER HPC system.