Europe Secures Groundbreaking Agreement for Cutting-Edge Alice Recoque Exascale Supercomputer

Europe Advances Towards Technological Leadership with Alice Recoque Exascale Supercomputer

Europe has taken a significant step towards enhancing its technological capabilities by signing the procurement contract for Alice Recoque, the next exascale supercomputer set to propel the continent to the forefront of innovation.

The agreement, finalized between the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and the selected vendor, Eviden, signifies the commencement of a transformative project that will redefine Europe’s supercomputing landscape.

Anders Jensen, Executive Director of EuroHPC JU, highlighted the momentous nature of this technological advancement: “With Europe officially entering the exascale era, the imminent arrival of Alice Recoque into our EuroHPC fleet is a cause for celebration.”

“This groundbreaking supercomputer, powered by cutting-edge European technologies, will elevate scientific discoveries, spur industrial innovation, and enhance technological sovereignty to unprecedented levels, all while prioritizing energy efficiency,” added Jensen.

A Tribute to a Trailblazer: The Alice Recoque Project

In honor of the pioneering French computer scientist Alice Recoque, the forthcoming supercomputer will stand as one of Europe’s most powerful computing systems ever constructed.

Upon deployment, Alice Recoque will boast the capability to perform over one billion-billion calculations per second, a magnitude of processing power that surpasses human capability by billions of years when using a calculator.

More than just a symbolic gesture, the Alice Recoque project embodies Europe’s dedication to scientific excellence, innovation, and technological independence.

Empowering Scientific, Industrial, and Technological Progress

Designed to address Europe’s most pressing scientific, societal, and industrial challenges, Alice Recoque will integrate large-scale simulations, advanced AI processing, data analytics, and nascent hybrid quantum technologies.

By amalgamating these tools within an energy-efficient ecosystem, the supercomputer will enable researchers to handle complex datasets with unparalleled speed and precision.

Its adaptable architecture will empower users to explore breakthroughs across domains such as climate modeling, medicine, engineering, and materials science—where computational scale often unlocks new realms of discovery.

Facilitating Europe’s Tech Ambitions: The Role of Alice Recoque

Beyond its academic applications, Alice Recoque will serve as a pivotal infrastructure for Europe’s emerging network of AI Factories.

Startups and SMEs throughout the continent will access ultra-high-performance computing resources, bolstering their competitiveness on a global scale and fortifying Europe’s digital prowess.

Thus, Alice Recoque assumes a vital position not solely as a scientific asset but as a strategic industrial engine for Europe’s future technological economy.

Harnessing Cutting-Edge European Technology

The exascale supercomputer will be crafted by Eviden utilizing an innovative blend of high-performance European technologies.

At its core lies the Eviden Sequana XH3500 platform, featuring a unified compute partition powered by AMD Venice 256-core processors coupled with next-generation AMD MI430x GPUs operating in a coherent-memory configuration.

Additionally, a scalar partition will leverage SiPearl RHEA2 ARM processors, developed under the European Processor Initiative (EPI).

All computational components will interconnect via a high-speed Bull BXI v3 interface, offering remarkable CPU and GPU link speeds to enhance performance efficiency.

For sustainable performance, the supercomputer will employ warm-water direct-liquid cooling for unified racks and chilled-door technology for scalar racks.

Operational functions will rely on the CEA Ocean framework, complemented by Eviden tools and popular open-source components like SLURM, Kubernetes, LUSTRE, Grafana, and Prometheus.

Deployment, Funding, and Collaborative Efforts

The Alice Recoque system will find its home at CEA’s TGCC supercomputing center in Bruyères-le-Châtel, France.

Owned by EuroHPC JU and managed by the Jules Verne consortium—led by France (GENCI and CEA), with contributions from the Netherlands (SURF) and Greece (GRNet)—the €354.8 million initiative will receive equal co-funding from EuroHPC JU through the Digital Europe Programme and participating nations.

Upon its operational status, Alice Recoque will be accessible to researchers, industries, and public entities across Europe, with resource allocation distributed proportionally between EuroHPC JU and the Jules Verne consortium.

Future Prospects: A New Era in European Supercomputing

The installation of Alice Recoque is slated to commence in 2026, heralding a new chapter in European supercomputing capabilities.

With its amalgamation of immense processing power, state-of-the-art European technology, and strategic foresight, Alice Recoque is poised to emerge as a cornerstone in Europe’s scientific and industrial landscape.