The Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) in Garching, Germany, has received a €500 million (US$ 577 million) investment from the Free State of Bavaria for developing and expanding its high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology facilities and data centers.
In a press release, LRZ said that in addition to operating high-performance and supercomputers, the LRZ will run AI clusters funded by Bavaria, Germany and Europe, in order to maintain the competitiveness of science and industry. The LRZ’s offerings will also be expanded by quantum systems and innovative technologies such as photonic computing systems.
Professor Helmut Reiser, Deputy Director, LRZ said, “This is a tremendous boost for science and research in Bavaria, and thus for the state’s innovative strength we are delighted that this support allows us to expand the LRZ and position it resiliently for the future.”
The first construction phase commenced in early October, when Bayernwerk (subsidiary of energy company E.ON) broke ground on a new €30 million substation that will provide LRZ with a secure and redundant power supply. Located near the Bavarian State Library’s storage facilities on the Garching campus, the substation will house two 50-megavolt-ampere transformers and is expected to become fully operational in 2028.
On the growing energy needs of modern research, Raiser further said, “Science depends increasingly on powerful supercomputers and AI systems for climate modelling, simulations of natural phenomena, and artificial intelligence applications. Our power demand will rise sharply in the coming years even with our highly energy-efficient data center. The new substation is essential to meeting those needs.”
Renovation work inside the LRZ’s existing computer building has already begun in preparation for Blue Lion, the next-generation supercomputer expected to go online in 2027. The new system will deliver roughly 30 times the performance of the current SuperMUC-NG.
An additional five-story expansion to the north of the facility will house the advanced power and cooling systems required for the computing giants that will follow Blue Lion. The LRZ’s facilities will be significantly expanded with major upgrades to its power and cooling infrastructure that supports future generations of computing systems.