Finland has launched its new national supercomputer named Roihu, located at the IT Center for Science (CSC) data center in Kajaani. Bull, a subsidiary of Atos focused on high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, has delivered and inaugurated the computer’s system which is intended to support applications including AI, machine learning (ML), fluid dynamics and climate modelling.
According to a press release, the system replaces Finland’s previous national supercomputers and triples the country’s total supercomputing capacity. Roihu is based on Bull’s liquid-cooled BullSequana architecture and includes a GPU platform with more than ten times the capacity of the previous system, alongside high-performance storage capabilities.
Multiple senior level executives have expressed their optimism for how the Roihu supercomputer will enhance Finland’s HPC, AI and data center development.
Mari-Leena Talvitie, Finland’s Minister of Science and Culture, said, “Roihu is a significant national investment that provides researchers with state-of-the-art computational capabilities. Supercomputers play a vital role in this effort, and Finland has made long-term investments in them. The investment in Roihu also supports our national objective of increasing R&D funding to four per cent of GDP.”
Kimmo Koski, managing director, CSC – IT Center for Science, said, “It is excellent that Finland has chosen to invest in high-performance computing, which helps advance the data economy, digitalization, the development of new technologies, and the creation of new expertise, every euro invested in CSC’s high-performance computing services has returned 25–37 euros to society.”
Pekka Lehtovuori, director of scientific computing infrastructures, CSC, said, “As high-performance computing expands into new fields, it enables the development of new capabilities and promotes interdisciplinary research that combines data from different domains. Roihu strengthens national resilience and security of supply, ensuring that the Finnish research system can continue to operate under all circumstances.”
Bruno Lecointe, head of HPC, AI and Quantum Computing, Bull, said, “Roihu reflects a long-standing collaboration with the Nordics region where we have delivered numerous computing projects, by supporting national supercomputing initiatives as well as AI and Giga factories across Europe.”
Roihu will operate alongside the EuroHPC LUMI supercomputer and is designed to handle national-scale workloads for Finnish universities and research institutes with the platform also supporting the process of sensitive and confidential research data.