LUMI, Europe's most powerful supercomputer, is solving global challenges and promoting a green transformation

LUMI, Europe’s most powerful supercomputer, will be inaugurated in Kajaani (Finland) on Monday, 13 June. From now on, researchers all over Europe can apply for access to LUMI's resources. LUMI has been set up in one of the world's greenest data centres, thus being a vital tool in promoting digital and green transition in Europe. 

LUMI's theoretical computing power will be more than 550 petaflops which means 550 quadrillion calculations per second. It is equivalent to the combined performance of 1.5 million of the latest laptop computers. LUMI's massive computing capacity is primarily based on its many graphics processors. They are especially suitable for use with various artificial intelligence methods. 

The overall societal impact of supercomputers is significant. Research, development, and innovation activities with them advance well-being, health, employment, and economic growth sustainably and for the long term. Half of LUMI's capacity belongs to the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. The other half can be used by members of the LUMI consortium, which also includes the University of Tartu.

According to Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, today marks a significant step for Europe’s digital and green transformation. “LUMI is now the fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputer in Europe and one of the most powerful ones in the world. Thanks to its massive computing capacity, LUMI will enable scientific breakthroughs in, for instance, medicine and climate research at a much faster pace. It could be in the development of vaccines, diagnosis of cancer, or mitigation of the effects of climate change,” said Vestager. She added that this is a great example of the enormous potential of artificial intelligence to improve our lives.

“As a member of the LUMI consortium, Estonia is a co-owner of one of the most important scientific instruments in the world,” said Ivar Koppel, CEO of the Estonian Scientific Computing Infrastructure. “However, LUMI is not just a tool for researchers and universities. Today, supercomputers are widely used in all industries where data analysis and simulations are performed. By using high computing power, it is possible to significantly reduce the time and money spent on product design and provide higher-value products and services. Up to 20% of all LUMI resources are available to industry and enterprises to support their research, development and innovation activities. Thus, LUMI opens up unprecedented technological opportunities for Estonia, which help to take the competitiveness of our science and business to a new level,” Koppel explained.

The LUMI consortium countries are Finland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland. Bringing together their unique expertise and experience, the consortium will strengthen European competitiveness and digital sovereignty while promoting global research collaboration.