Jupiter supercomputer puts Europe in global AI computing race

Nvidia and the Julich Supercomputing Centre have launched Jupiter, Europe‘s fastest supercomputer, powered by nearly 24,000 Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips. The system marks Europe’s entry into exascale computing, delivering over one quintillion calculations per second while positioning the continent as a major player in AI research and scientific discovery.

What you should know: Jupiter represents a significant leap forward in European high-performance computing capabilities and energy efficiency.

• The supercomputer delivers more than twice the performance of Europe’s next-fastest system and ranks among the top five globally on the latest TOP500 list.
• Built on Nvidia’s GH200 Grace Hopper platform and interconnected with Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, Jupiter achieves 60 gigaflops per watt energy efficiency.
• The system is expected to exceed 90 exaflops in AI performance, making it Europe’s first exascale supercomputer.

In plain English: An exascale supercomputer can perform over one quintillion calculations per second—that’s a 1 followed by 18 zeros, roughly equivalent to every person on Earth performing 125 million calculations simultaneously.

The big picture: Jupiter positions Europe as a competitive force in the global race for AI and scientific computing supremacy.

• Hosted at Forschungszentrum Julich in Germany and owned by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, a collaboration of European Union member states, the system was built on Eviden’s BullSequana XH3000 liquid-cooled infrastructure.
• The supercomputer was designed, built, and delivered in less than nine months, demonstrating rapid European technological capabilities.

Key applications: Jupiter supports diverse research areas from climate modeling to quantum computing and drug discovery.

• The system runs Nvidia Earth-2 for real-time climate and weather simulations, addressing critical environmental challenges.
• CUDA-Q and cuQuantum platforms enable quantum computing research, while BioNeMo accelerates drug discovery processes.
• Nvidia Omniverse and PhysicsNeMo frameworks support engineering applications and digital twin development.

What they’re saying: Industry leaders emphasize Jupiter’s role in advancing European scientific sovereignty and innovation.

• “AI will supercharge scientific discovery and industrial innovation,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia. “In partnership with Julich and Eviden, we’re building Europe’s most advanced AI supercomputer to enable the leading researchers, industries and institutions to expand human knowledge, accelerate breakthroughs and drive national advancement.”
• “With Jupiter’s extreme performance, Europe has taken a giant leap into the future of science, technology and sovereignty,” noted Anders Jensen, executive director of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.
• Thomas Lippert, codirector of the Julich Supercomputing Centre, called Jupiter “a landmark achievement for European science and technology,” highlighting its role in “advancing the frontier of foundation model training and high-performance simulation.”

Why this matters: Jupiter’s launch demonstrates Europe’s commitment to maintaining technological independence and leadership in critical computing infrastructure.

• The system enables European researchers to tackle unprecedented computational challenges across climate modeling, energy systems, and biomedical innovation.
• Early Linpack benchmarks confirmed Jupiter’s high placement on the TOP500 list, validating its world-class performance capabilities.