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European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

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European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 establishing the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

As provided for in Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in order to implement the European high-performance computing (EuroHPC) initiative, Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 establishes the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) between the European Union (EU), EU Member States and private partners, for the period until 31 December 2033.
Its mission is to develop, deploy, extend and maintain a world-leading consolidated, secure and hyper-connected supercomputing*, quantum computing*, service and data infrastructure ecosystem.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1732 amends Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as regards a EuroHPC initiative for start-ups in order to boost European leadership in trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI).

KEY POINTS

The regulation builds upon and repeals Regulation (EU) 2018/1488.

Objectives and activities

The joint undertaking aims to:

deliver scientific, economic, environmental, technological and societal results from the EU’s investment in research and innovation;
deliver on the EU’s strategic priorities and contribute to its objectives and policies;
tackle global challenges, including the United Nations sustainable development goals, by following the principles of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
closely cooperate and coordinate with other European partnerships and relevant programmes at the EU, national, and regional levels;
develop, deploy and maintain a hyper-connected supercomputing and data infrastructure in the EU and federate it with European data spaces and a cloud ecosystem;
promote scientific excellence and support the uptake and systematic use of research and innovation results generated in the EU;
further develop and support a highly competitive and innovative supercomputing and data ecosystem to be broadly distributed in Europe, which contributes to the EU’s scientific and digital leadership, and which is capable of autonomously producing computing systems and advanced applications;
widen the use of supercomputing services and develop key skills needed in European science and industry;
promote and operate AI factories* in support of the further development of a highly competitive and innovative AI ecosystem in the EU, facilities which should include an AI supercomputer, an associated data centre and AI-oriented supercomputing services.

Joint undertaking members

The joint undertaking members are:

the EU, represented by the European Commission;
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden;
Montenegro, North Macedonia, Switzerland and Turkey, on the condition that they are associated with Horizon Europe, the digital Europe programme or the Connecting Europe Facility;
the European Technology Platform for High-Performance Computing association (subject to EU endorsement);
the Data, AI and Robotics Association, formerly known as the Big Data Value Association.

Governance

The governance structure comprises:

a governing board, composed of representatives of the EU and participating countries, responsible for strategic policymaking and funding decisions;
an executive director;
an industrial and scientific advisory board, with academic and industry representatives as users and technology suppliers, respectively, to provide independent advice to the governing board on the strategic research and innovation agenda and on acquiring and operating the supercomputers owned by the joint undertaking.

Financial contribution

The EU’s financial contribution to the joint undertaking, including European Economic Area (EEA) appropriations, is up to €3,081,300,000, including €92,000,000 for administration, on condition that it is matched by the contribution of the participating countries, distributed as follows:

Horizon Europe: up to €900,000,000,
the digital Europe programme: up to €1,981,300,000,
the Connecting Europe Facility: up to €200,000,000.

Private members of the joint undertaking must contribute at least €900,000,000.

Acquisition and ownership of computer equipment

The joint undertaking acquires the following elements under the regulation.

High-end supercomputers, quantum computers and quantum simulators*, retaining ownership. The EU covers up to 50% of the acquisition costs plus up to 50% of the operating costs. The remaining total cost of ownership is covered by the participating state where the hosting company is established.
AI-optimised supercomputers, retaining ownership. The EU covers up to 50% of the acquisition costs plus up to 50% of the operating costs of the AI-optimised supercomputers. The operating costs include the costs for AI-oriented supercomputing services. The remaining total cost of ownership of the AI-optimised supercomputers is covered by the participating state where the hosting entity is established or by the participating countries in the hosting consortium.
Industrial-grade EuroHPC supercomputers, retaining ownership. The EU covers up to 35% of the acquisition costs plus up to 35% of the operating costs, the remainder covered by the consortium of private partners.
Mid-range supercomputers, jointly with participating countries, with joint ownership. The EU covers up to 35% of the acquisition costs plus up to 35% of the operating costs. The remaining total cost of ownership is covered by the participating state where the hosting company is established.

The joint undertaking may launch a call for expressions of interest to upgrade the EuroHPC supercomputers it owns or co-owns, to raise the performance level of the supercomputer close to exascale, to increase the AI capabilities of the supercomputer or to increase the operational performance of the supercomputer in any other way, including by means of quantum accelerators.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It has applied since 8 August 2021 and covers the period until 31 December 2033.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

European Technology Platform for High-Performance Computing (European Commission)
Horizon Europe (European Commission)
The digital Europe programme (European Commission)
Connecting Europe Facility (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

Supercomputing. The term generally applied to mean the fastest high-performance systems available at any given time. Supercomputers are used primarily for scientific and engineering work requiring exceedingly high-speed computations.

Quantum computing. The study of how to use phenomena in quantum physics to create new ways of computing. Quantum computers perform calculations based on the probability of an object’s state before it is measured.

AI factories. Entities that provide an AI supercomputing service infrastructure.

Quantum simulators. Devices that actively use quantum effects to answer questions about model systems and, through them, real systems.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 of 13 July 2021 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1488 (OJ L 256, 19.7.2021, pp. 3–51).

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

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