The Hungarian supercomputing infrastructure will grow to 50 times its current level

The “Levente,” to be built in two to three years at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics base in Csillebérc, will boost technological innovation in the sector, in addition to supporting domestic research and development, according to a statement from the Ministry of Technology and Industry.

Supercomputing plays a key role in ensuring global competitiveness. Recognizing this, the European Union has launched a major program to develop common and national HPC capabilities. The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is providing significant resources and coordination to support the modernization of infrastructure and the widespread deployment of the technology.

The Hungarian application for the ministry’s initiative, submitted in February 2022, was selected on the basis of an evaluation by renowned international experts.

The contribution will cover more than a third of the value of the project and its running costs for five years. 

In addition to “Levente,” the program is helping to create three other similar classes of machines, including the Greek Daedalus, the Irish CASPIr and the Polish EHPCPL. The winners will have to negotiate public procurement with the European Union, which must make at least the share of the new HPC capacity funded by EuroHPC available to European collaborations.

Thanks to the call, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, Jupiter, will be built in Germany.

According to Minister of Technology and Industry László Palkovics, the basic conditions for new Hungarian technological and industrial developments that are internationally marketable will be created with the Komondor, which will be partially completed this summer, and the Levente, which will be launched with the current decision. The investments will increase the total capacity of the Hungarian supercomputing infrastructure to 50 times its current level.