Europe's most powerful supercomputer unveiled in Kajaani

LUMI, the Europe’s most powerful supercomputer was inaugurated in Kajaani on Monday, said CSC-IT Center for Science in a press release.

LUMI is owned by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, and it is run by a consortium of 10 countries with long traditions and knowledge of scientific computing.

Researchers all over Europe can apply for access to LUMI's resources, which means that all of Europe can benefit from this new research instrument.

“Today marks a major step for Europe’s digital and green transformation. LUMI is now the fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer in Europe, and one of the most powerful ones in the world. LUMI will enable scientific breakthroughs in for instance medicine and climate research at a much faster pace. It could be in the development of vaccines, diagnosis of cancer, or mitigation of the effects of climate change. This is a great example of the enormous potential of artificial intelligence to improve our lives,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission.

“The societal challenges for which we use supercomputers exist on a global scale. The extent of these challenges, and the work required to tackle and transform them into innovation opportunities, requires much collaboration across many branches of academia and countless research teams. It therefore can only make sense that one of the biggest and most important research infrastructures should be based on extensive collaboration,” said Anders Dam Jensen, Executive Director of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.

“LUMI is an ecosystem for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and data-intensive research, which enables breakthroughs in several branches of academic research. In addition, a fifth of LUMI's capacity is targeted to companies that are getting the opportunity to use methods of next-generation high-performance computing and to give rise to new skills and innovation,” said Managing Director Kimmo Koski, of CSC, which operates LUMI.

LUMI is Europe's most powerful supercomputer. LUMI was ranked third on the latest Top500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers, which was released at the end of May.

LUMI's massive computing capacity is primarily based on its many graphics processors, or GPU processors. They are especially suitable for use with various methods involving artificial intelligence, especially for deep learning.

“Finland possesses a significant quantum technology knowledge hub – also on European level. The combination of high performance and quantum computers strengthens the attractiveness of the quantum ecosystem in Finland and in Europe. Jointly they create new kind of opportunities for scientific computing as well as for industrial research and innovations,” said Mika Lintilä, Minister of Economic Affairs and Employment in Finland.

A significant part of the carbon footprint of the ICT sector comes in the building phase of infrastructures. The carbon footprint of LUMI has been significantly reduced by placing the machine on the premises of a former paper mill in Kajaani, Finland, enabling it to utilise the existing municipal engineering.

However, even energy-efficient supercomputers consume plenty of electricity, which means that the way that the electricity is generated is of great significance. LUMI gets all of its electricity from 100 percent renewable hydroelectric power. In addition, the waste heat produced by LUMI will be utilised in the district heating network of Kajaani, which means that its overall carbon footprint is negative. The waste heat produced by LUMI will provide 20% of Kajaani’s annual demand for district heat.