Through IT4Innovations VŠB-TUO, the Czech Republic will gain access to the new European supercomputer LUMI-AI, which will offer up to 10x higher performance for AI and almost 2x higher performance for scientific calculations than the current LUMI. The system will be launched in 2027 in Finland and will support research, companies and startups. The Czech Republic will contribute 7.37 million euros to its acquisition. LUMI-AI will be connected to a quantum computer and will use renewable energy sources.
The Czech Republic will have access to the new European supercomputing infrastructure LUMI-AI, through the national supercomputing center IT4Innovations, which will offer approximately ten times higher performance for artificial intelligence and almost double the performance for traditional scientific calculations compared to the current LUMI supercomputer. The new system will serve researchers, companies and startups and will become one of the key pillars of the European infrastructure for the development of artificial intelligence. The Czech Republic is contributing 7.37 million euros to its acquisition through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports .
The pan-European EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has signed a contract for the acquisition of the LUMI-AI supercomputer, which will be installed in the CSC data center in Kajaani, Finland . Its deployment is planned for the second half of 2027. LUMI-AI will be owned by EuroHPC JU and operated by the LUMI AI Factory consortium, which includes the Czech Republic in addition to Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Poland. The Czech participation is provided by IT4Innovations, the national supercomputer center at VŠB - Technical University of Ostrava. The total value of the contract, including the acquisition, delivery, installation and operation of the system, is 387.8 million euros. Half of the costs are financed by EuroHPC JU and the other half by the member countries of the LUMI AI Factory consortium. The Czech Republic is contributing 7,370,000 euros to the acquisition of the infrastructure through the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
"Since last year, the Czech Republic has been involved in the LUMI AI Factory, which also opens up access to the LUMI-AI supercomputer, which will represent the European infrastructure leader in the field of artificial intelligence. For Czech research, companies, startups and public institutions, this means the opportunity to work with computing capacities that will enable training and operating the most advanced artificial intelligence models. At the same time, it is an important step towards strengthening European technological sovereignty and competitiveness in the field of AI," says Vít Vondrák , Director of IT4Innovations of the national supercomputer center.
LUMI-AI will form the computing backbone of the LUMI AI Factory, supporting both industrial AI-based innovation and academic research. The system will be designed for a wide range of tasks – from training and operating large-scale AI models to demanding scientific simulations.
"With the signing of the LUMI-AI contract, the EuroHPC JU Joint Undertaking has concluded its sixth contract for a next-generation supercomputer optimized for AI under the AI Factories initiative. Together, these systems will create a powerful European AI infrastructure ecosystem that will enable SMEs and startups to access world-class supercomputing capabilities, fully exploit the potential of AI, and support innovation, economic growth and technological leadership in Europe," says Anders Jensen , Executive Director of the EuroHPC JU.
Ten times the performance for artificial intelligence
LUMI-AI will be based on the BullSequana XH3500 architecture and equipped with the next generation AMD Instinct™ MI430X GPU and 6th generation AMD EPYC™ processors with 256 cores. The system supplier is Bull. IBM will provide the data storage infrastructure based on Storage Scale technology and Nokia will complement Bull's BXI-based network communication infrastructure with its technologies.
The new GPU architectures deliver significant performance gains, particularly for AI-based tasks . LUMI-AI is expected to offer approximately ten times the capacity for AI tasks compared to the current LUMI supercomputer. Performance for traditional high-performance computing, such as large-scale scientific simulations, will almost double.
The system will be complemented by additional computing and storage capacities. Its architecture will allow it to securely serve different groups of users, and its extensive API interface will facilitate its integration into modern environments for the development and operation of AI applications.
Supercomputer connected to a quantum computer
A significant part of the new infrastructure will be the connection of LUMI-AI with the LUMI-IQ quantum computer , which will be supplied by IQM Quantum Computers. Both systems will be located in the same data center and closely integrated. This will create an advanced hybrid computing platform combining HPC, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The IT4Innovations research team will also actively participate in the development of this hybrid computing environment, contributing its experience in connecting classical supercomputer and quantum technologies. Researchers will be able to combine classical numerical simulations, machine learning and quantum algorithms within a single environment. This may open up new possibilities, for example, in the development of drugs and materials, climate research or other areas where current computing capabilities are a limiting factor.
Performance with an emphasis on energy efficiency
Like the current LUMI supercomputer, its successor will also place emphasis on energy efficiency. LUMI-AI will use liquid cooling and the waste heat generated during its operation will be captured and fed into the district heating system of the city of Kajaani. The supercomputer will be powered by 100% renewable energy. The combination of advanced cooling, waste heat utilization and renewable energy is intended to make LUMI-AI one of the most energy- and environmentally-efficient supercomputers of its generation.
