Germany launches Europe's fastest supercomputer, worth half a billion euros

On September 5, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and North Rhine-Westphalia State Premier Hendrik Wüst attended the launch ceremony of the 500 million euro Jupiter supercomputer, located at the Jülich Research Center near the city of Aachen.

This supercomputer is powered entirely by green electricity and is capable of performing one trillion calculations per second.

The German chancellor said it was one of the world's fastest supercomputers, which could open up “completely new possibilities for training artificial intelligence models or scientific simulations."

He asserted that the Jupiter supercomputer, currently ranked fourth in the world in terms of speed, demonstrates Germany's ambition to play a leading role in the contemporary technological revolution.

“The US and China are currently competing fiercely to capture future market share, but Europe and Germany still have many opportunities to catch up,” Mr. Merz emphasized.

Jupiter runs entirely on renewable electricity and is the world's most energy-efficient supercomputer, said Astrid Lambrecht, director of the Jülich Research Center.

“In an age where digitalization and artificial intelligence are increasingly demanding on energy, the Jupiter supercomputer shows how we can save resources,” she said.

At the launch ceremony, Ms. Lambrecht also affirmed that Germany must accelerate in the field of artificial intelligence. In addition, she said that the worst-case scenario that supercomputers equipped with artificial intelligence could one day take over humanity is unrealistic.

The Jupiter supercomputer's computing center was built over two years, consisting of about 50 container modules with an area of more than 2,300 square meters. The data it can store is equivalent to 450 billion books.

"Jupiter is really powerful and is the first computer in Europe capable of performing more than a trillion calculations per second," Ms Lambrecht asserted.

The name “Jupiter” stands for “Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research”.

The cost of building this supercomputer is about 500 million euros, of which the European Commission contributes 250 million euros, and the Federal Ministry of Science and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia each support 125 million euros.

Jupiter will also be used to improve climate and weather simulations, helping to more accurately predict extreme events like heavy rain or severe thunderstorms.

In addition, this supercomputer is also used to study proteins, cells and the human brain to promote faster development of new treatments.

Major corporations around the world are pursuing the goal of creating a more advanced artificial intelligence, capable of solving humanity's biggest problems and acting as an all-powerful assistant. However, critics fear such technology will spiral out of control, while more optimistic people say the concerns are overblown./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/duc-ra-mat-sieu-may-tinh-nhanh-nhat-chau-au-tri-gia-nua-ty-euro-post1060177.vnp