What is the JUPITER supercomputer?

The JUPITER supercomputer It is Europe's first exascale computer, capable of performing over a quintillion operations per second. It is scheduled to open in September 2025 at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany. JUPITER It represents a technological leap that positions Europe among the world leaders in high-performance computing, accelerating research in climatology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.

Content index

• What is the JUPITER supercomputer?
• How JUPITER Works and Why It's Different
• Why JUPITER is important for Europe in 2025
• Practical applications of the JUPITER supercomputer
• Technical specifications and architecture
• Impact on European Artificial Intelligence
• Future of exascale computing

How does the JUPITER supercomputer work?

JUPITER It operates through a modular architecture that uniquely combines raw power and energy efficiency. The system is based on two main components: the Booster module, equipped with approximately 24.000 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips, and the Cluster module with European Rhea processors from SiPearl.

The real innovation lies in the hot liquid cooling system that not only maintains operating temperatures, but recovers the heat to heat the campus buildings. JUPITER It achieves more than 60 billion floating point operations per watt, making it the most efficient system among the five fastest supercomputers in the world according to the Green500 ranking.

Secondo the study published by NVIDIA, the architecture of JUPITER It can deliver up to 90 exaflops of AI performance, more than double the speed of the previous fastest system in Europe.

How is JUPITER different from traditional supercomputers?

Traditional supercomputers focus primarily on high-speed sequential computations. JUPITER Instead, it integrates massively parallel computing capabilities with AI-specific optimizations, creating a hybrid system that excels at both scientific simulations and AI model training.

Prof. Thomas Lippert, director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, explains that “this system represents twenty times the computing power of any other computer in Germany,” opening up completely new possibilities for European research.

What are the main applications of the JUPITER supercomputer?

Climate research and weather forecasting

THEMax Planck Institute for Meteorology already uses JUPITER for kilometer-resolution climate simulations. This level of detail allows for much more accurate forecasts of extreme events such as severe storms, heat waves, and floods, which are essential for emergency planning and climate adaptation.

Development of European artificial intelligence

Il TrustLLM project, a collaboration between the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and nine European partners, is using JUPITER to train the next generation of language models for European languages. These AI models can improve workflows in virtually every industry, generating human-like responses and increasing productivity.

Neuroscience and drug discovery

Researcher Thorsten Hater of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre is using JUPITER To simulate the behavior of individual neurons at the subcellular level with the Arbor simulator. These simulations will be crucial for developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Advanced quantum simulation

JUPITER It is poised to break the world record for the capacity of a supercomputer to handle qubits, the basic units of information in quantum computing. While a typical laptop can handle about 32 qubits and the current supercomputer record is 48 qubits, JUPITER could exceed 50 qubits.

What are the technical specifications of the JUPITER supercomputer?

JUPITER It's an engineering masterpiece spread across approximately 3.600 square meters. The system is built around 125 racks contained within 50 modular containers, assembled in just eight months.

The system uses fully renewable energy and its liquid cooling architecture allows the heat generated to be reused for building heating, demonstrating a sustainable approach to high-performance computing.

How is JUPITER transforming artificial intelligence in Europe?

La JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF), announced in March 2025, represents the heart of the European strategy for artificial intelligence. This initiative aims to develop advanced language models for European languages, reducing dependence on American and Chinese tech giants.

As he reports a research published in Futuro Prossimo, the evolution towards increasingly efficient computing systems represents a global trend in which Europe is strategically positioned.

Il JUPITER supercomputer directly supports the development of European AI models through:

• Multilingual model training: Ability to process multiple European languages ​​simultaneously

• Large-scale research: Ability to explore innovative AI architectures

• Digital sovereignty: Reducing dependence on external infrastructure

• Industrial collaboration: Access for European startups and companies

What is the economic and strategic impact of JUPITER?

The total investment in JUPITER amounts to 500 million euros, half of which is financed by theEuroHPC Joint Undertaking and one quarter each from the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space and the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz He emphasized during the inauguration how the supercomputer is driving national advancement and industrial innovation, positioning Germany and Europe in the global competition for technological supremacy.

How to access the JUPITER supercomputer?

EuroHPC manages 50% of the system's computing time, while the other 50% is assigned by the Gauss Center for Supercomputing (GCS) to German universities and research institutions. JUPITER Research and Early Access Program (JUREAP) supports early applications to use the machine as efficiently as possible.

Companies can apply for computing time through public tenders, but must meet specific “innovative nature” requirements to gain access.

What future for exascale computing in Europe?

JUPITER This represents just the beginning of the European exascale era. The European Commission has announced 76 expressions of interest in 16 Member States for the establishment of AI Gigafactory European, large-scale computing and data storage centers specifically designed for the development of next-generation AI models.

These centres will use the EuroHPC supercomputing network to achieve the EU's goal of becoming the world's leading continent in artificial intelligence, with models containing hundreds of trillions of parameters.

TL;DR – JUPITER Supercomputer Summary

• What's this: Europe's first exascale supercomputer with over 1 quintillion operations per second

• Key Difference: Combines high-performance computing and artificial intelligence in a single architecture

• Main applications: Climate research, AI development, neuroscience, quantum simulation

• Implementation: 24.000 NVIDIA chips, record energy efficiency, sustainable cooling

• Impact: Position Europe in the global competition for technological supremacy

JUPITER It is not just the fastest supercomputer in Europe: it is the technological basis for the continent's digital independence in the age of artificial intelligence.