JUPITER: Next-level Performance for Scientific Computing and AI

Its technical designation is a mouthful – the Joint Undertaking Pioneer for Innovative and Transformative Exascale Research (JUPITER) will be installed and operated by the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) and, as a computational multi-talent, offer support for a diverse range of applications. Here, we’re talking about the greatest challenges for the future: the energy transition and climate simulations, the behavior of individual quanta, molecular processes in nerve cells, and AI-based Large Language Models (LLMs).

JUPITER is the Helmholtz Association’s most powerful supercomputer and the first European exascale computer. It also continues a more than three-decades-long tradition of outstanding high-performance computers at Forschungszentrum Jülich. JSC computers are frequently among the top-ranked on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers. Their enormous computing power for classic simulations and AI applications supports our research centers in a range of joint projects, e.g. in the Helmholtz Foundation Model Initiative (HFMI), which is designed to promote the next generation of high-performance AI models to address complex research questions. Further, our cross-Center research platform for applied Artificial Intelligence, Helmholtz AI, requires the outstanding computing power that JUPITER can offer. Helmholtz AI supports the effective development and application of AI methods throughout the Helmholtz Association.

As a dynamic, modular supercomputer, JUPITER can be used for a host of research and commercial applications. Further, the system is available to users in Germany and throughout Europe. JUPITER consists of a highly scalable booster module for particularly computationally intensive problems and a universal cluster module. These are complemented by a hierarchically structured storage system – with rapid flash storage, high-capacity hard drives, and energy-efficient magnetic tape drives for long-term archiving.

The new supercomputer features not only a dynamic system architecture, but also a highly flexible component: the Modular Data Centre (MDC), which allows revolutionary computing technologies like quantum computers and neuromorphic computers to be readily integrated. In short: it can combine the best of all future IT worlds – and can only be found at Helmholtz.

In addition, the JUPITER AI Factory in Jülich will serve as a central pillar of the European AI infrastructure for the use and further development of AI services for start-ups, SMEs and industry. The Cloud platform JARVIS will supplement JUPITER with a module for AI inference, i.e., the application of AI models and further optimization through innovative methods. The AI Factory will also be available to other research centers and the public sector. The focus will be on strategically important fields of application: healthcare, energy, climate change, education media, the public sector, and finance.

Bild: Forschungszentrum Jülich