Europe Expands AI Supercomputing Network with France-Based Bull
Europe has placed a massive supercomputer order worth approximately 388 million euros with France's state-backed company Bull to bridge the computing gap with the US and China.
In line with the goal of closing the computing gap with the US and China, Europe is expanding its publicly funded artificial intelligence supercomputing network through a colossal 387.8 million euro system agreement with France-based Bull.
Historic Contract for the French Company
Bull, which the French state carved out from the debt-laden Atos, told Reuters that this massive deal is its largest contract to date.
New System to Be Built in Finland
The European Union's supercomputing agency, EuroHPC, has officially selected Bull to build LUMI-AI as the sixth machine under its AI factories program.
The new supercomputer will be installed next to the existing LUMI machine at Finland's supercomputing center and is expected to become operational in the second half of 2027.
International Funding Partnership
The project's financing is shared equally between EuroHPC and the LUMI AI Factory consortium, which consists of Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Poland.
Advanced Technological Infrastructure
Bull will build this advanced system using AMD processors, IBM storage units, and Nokia networking technologies, designed to handle large-scale AI training and inference operations as well as intensive scientific simulations.