JUPITER was unveiled to the public today at Forschungszentrum Jülich in front of high-ranking guests from politics, science, and industry. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst attended the inauguration ceremony of Europe's fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer.
The system, designed by the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) and in collaboration with the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and procured by EuroHPC, is the first in Europe to exceed 1 quintillion calculations per second (1 ExaFLOP/s). This marks a major technological milestone, the result of years of research and development funded by Germany and Europe, carried out in close collaboration with German, European, and international partners of the Forschungszentrum Jülich. It also represents a flagship project for driving digital progress and strengthening international competitiveness.
"With JUPITER, Germany now has the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the fourth fastest in the world! It opens up completely new possibilities - from training AI models to scientific simulations. Employees at Forschungszentrum Jülich can be proud of this impressive achievement, which underlines Germany's ambition to play a leading role in the technological revolution of our time. Our security and competitiveness in Germany and Europe depend on technological sovereignty and sovereign computing capacities. Strengthening Germany as a technology hub is therefore one of the Federal Government's top priorities. JUPITER and the excellent research work at Forschungszentrum Jülich prove that Germany can set new standards in the research, development, and application of future technologies - and contribute to solving the challenges facing humanity."
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
"Artificial intelligence is bigger than anything that has changed our country in recent decades. The future begins now - and North Rhine-Westphalia is leading the way. JUPITER is a milestone for structural change in the Rhineland mining region and for our consistent transition from coal to AI. With the fastest supercomputer in Europe, we are making great strides towards our goal of making North Rhine-Westphalia the AI hotspot in Europe. The free West must be the home of free and trustworthy AI. JUPITER is powered by green electricity and is the most energy-efficient supercomputer in the world. Today we are showing the world that North Rhine-Westphalia has recognised the opportunity for change and seized it with determination."
Hendrik Wüst, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia
"This is a historic milestone. With JUPITER, Europe is reaching the highest level of high-performance computing. JUPITER is also a testimony for Germany's long leadership in HPC. Today, it became the home of the most powerful computer in Europe and the fourth most powerful in the world. From European perspective, JUPITER is a pioneer. It shows that when we combine national vision with European cooperation, we can achieve global excellence."
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy
"Jupiter is a key component of Europe's digital sovereignty. It is the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the fourth fastest in the world. But what makes it truly unique, however, is its outstanding energy efficiency. JUPITER is the world's most energy-efficient supercomputer in its performance class. Achieving this required decades of experience, in-depth expertise, and a passionate drive for development here at Forschungszentrum Jülich. At a time when digitalization and AI are requiring more and more energy, with JUPITER, we show the path toward resource-efficient computing."
Prof. Astrid Lambrecht, Chair of the Board of Directors at Forschungszentrum Jülich
Europe's leap into the exascale future
As the fastest supercomputer in Europe and the fourth fastest in the world, JUPITER marks a new era of high-performance computing for the continent. In AI applications, JUPITER even exceeds 40 ExaFLOP/s - placing it among the world's most powerful systems for artificial intelligence.
JUPITER's enormous computing power enables the training and application of the largest AI models, as well as the calculation of scientific simulations with unprecedented complexity and depth of detail. At its core is the JUPITER Booster, supplied by Eviden and equipped with around 24,000 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper superchips.
JUPITER will enable groundbreaking advances in climate, energy, medical, and materials research. It will also improve the accuracy of climate and weather simulations, particularly for local extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall and heatwaves. Moreover, it will drive the development of sustainable energy systems and accelerate research into the most complex systems such as proteins, cells, and the brain - with the goal of developing new therapies faster.
"With JUPITER, Europe gains its most advanced AI supercomputer, built for large-scale simulation and AI, powered by NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and Quantum-2 InfiniBand. JUPITER fuses high-performance computing and AI into a single architecture. A platform for next generation scientific computing, it will accelerate breakthroughs across every domain - from modeling climate and renewable energy to advancing quantum research, designing new materials and building digital twins."
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA
Rapid implementation and energy-efficient infrastructure
JUPITER was built in record time, with construction starting in December 2023. Europe's first exascale computer was completed in less than two years, housed in a purpose-built, innovative facility - the modular data centre. More than 100 national and international projects are already using the supercomputer, including initiatives in extreme weather forecasting, drug research, and the development of climate-neutral technologies.
JUPITER is also setting new standards in terms of energy efficiency. According to the latest TOP500 list, JUPITER is the most energy-efficient exascale system among the five fastest supercomputers in the world - a crucial aspect in view of the International Energy Agency's forecast that the electricity demand of data centres could more than double by 2030. In addition, thanks to its highly efficient warm-water cooling system, the supercomputer is also designed to reuse the heat it generates during operation to heat buildings. For this purpose, it will be integrated into the heating network of the Jülich campus.
JUPITER AI Factory
JUPITER is also the heart of the JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF) currently being developed in Jülich - a central element of the European AI ecosystem. Combined with JAIF, JUPITER will also be used beyond research and the public sector by start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and industry. In this context, an additional module designed specifically for inference applications is being developed. This planned cloud platform will complement the JUPITER infrastructure and enable the fast, efficient use of trained AI models in practical applications.
Funding
JUPITER, the "Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research", is funded jointly, with half of its funding being provided by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), a quarter coming from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR, formerly BMBF), and a quarter from the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW) via the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS).
Additional statements
"With JUPITER, Europe is entering the exascale era, unlocking unprecedented computing power to drive scientific discovery, industrial innovation, and technological sovereignty. I look forward to see the first wave of exascale applications and the breakthroughs they will bring."
Anders Jensen, EuroHPC JU Executive Director
"The inauguration of the JUPITER supercomputer is a milestone for technological excellence and sovereignty in Germany and Europe. The fact that Europe's fastest supercomputer and the fourth fastest in the world is located here is a sign of our country's innovative strength. The BMFTR is contributing a quarter of the total investment of 500 million euros. With its enormous computing power, JUPITER is revolutionising both scientific simulations and the training and application of large AI models, thus contributing to the goal of Germany's High-Tech Agenda to make AI a key technology and an important tool in central fields of research and application. JUPITER makes Germany a highly attractive location for researchers from all over the world and ensures that AI 'Made in Germany' stands for technological excellence worldwide. For this, I would also like to thank the employees of Forschungszentrum Jülich."
Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space
"The fact that one of the fastest supercomputers in the world is located here in North Rhine-Westphalia sends a strong signal. JUPITER will attract the best minds from around the world and produce new applications that will improve our lives - from innovative therapies in medicine to smart mobility solutions. At the same time, technological progress poses ethical challenges. As the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, we are investing in important future-oriented fields that strengthen our independence and values in Europe."
Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
"After a decade of intensive innovation efforts, we have collaboratively developed a system that not only sets new standards in computational performance but will fundamentally change scientific research across numerous fields. The most complex AI models can now be trained and applied - something that was not possible without JUPITER."
Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Lippert, director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre
"Today marks a proud milestone-not only for our company, but for Europe's digital future. Beyond its critical use cases and remarkable performance, JUPITER is proof of what Europe can achieve when public organizations and industry leaders unite around a shared vision and world-class technical expertise. This is more than innovation or a high-performance project-it represents a defining step toward building AI that is both sovereign and responsible. For Eviden and our teams, it is also a moment of immense pride to see the results of months of dedication and collaboration come to life in this remarkable machine."
Emmanuel Le Roux, SVP, Global head of Advanced Computing and AI, at Eviden (Atos Group)
