Germany Launches Supercomputer: A Billion Billion Operations Per Second

Germany launches supercomputer

 A Billion Billion Operations Per Second: Germany Launches Supercomputer

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on Europe to make up for its lag in artificial intelligence (AI) during the inauguration of the continent's first supercomputer, capable of performing a billion billion calculations per second. Merz inaugurated the first supercomputer in Europe and the fourth-fastest in the world.

The supercomputer, named Jupyter, was installed at the Jülich Research Center in western Germany and was co-assembled by French and German companies, according to Reuters. During the inauguration, Merz said, "Today marks the inauguration of a pioneering and historic European project." The German Chancellor explained that "the United States and China are competing fiercely to achieve an AI-based economy," stressing that "Germany and Europe have every opportunity to catch up."

Merz added, "In Germany and Europe in general, we need independent computing capabilities that match those of our international competitors." He continued, "This is a matter of competitiveness and the security of our country." Researchers in various fields will have access to this €500 million ($580 million) supercomputer, whose uses go far beyond artificial intelligence, according to the Swiss News Agency.

The computer is built from more than 24,000 chips from US AI leader Nvidia. The European Jupyter Exascale supercomputer, the first of its kind in Europe, is the fourth-fastest in the world, capable of performing one billion billion calculations per second and equivalent in power to about 10 million conventional computers.

The project was a joint investment between the European Union and Germany through the EuroHBC joint venture, according to the Invention News Network. “Jupiter will significantly enhance artificial intelligence, scientific discovery, and industrial innovation,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

“Thanks to Jupyter’s outstanding performance, Europe has taken a huge step toward the future of science, technology, and sovereignty,” he added. “Jupiter’s computing power will catalyze scientific discovery and drive foundational research across the continent in areas as diverse as climate modeling, energy systems, and biomedical innovation.”

“Jupiter is a landmark achievement for European science and technology,” said Thomas Lippert, co-director of the Jülich Supercomputing Center. “With NVIDIA’s accelerated computing and AI platforms, Jupyter advances the horizons of foundational model training and high-performance simulations, enabling researchers across Europe to tackle highly complex challenges.”