European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking

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 factories³ 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 simulators⁴, 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.