EuroHPC Joint Undertaking Awards Contract for LISA: the Upgrade of the LEONARDO Supercomputer

The LISA upgrade will incorporate an AI-optimised partition into Leonardo, providing greater support for the development of Large Language Models and multi-modal generative AI. 

The integration of advanced components such as a compute partition featuring 166 advanced 8-way GPU servers fully interconnected through a high performance non-blocking network as well as high-bandwidth memory will significantly boost the supercomputer’s performance for AI-intensive tasks. LISA is the first EuroHPC computing partition designed from the ground up specifically for AI workloads. 

Leonardo and Lisa will be connected through the same multi-protocol storage layer that provides concurrent block, file, and object functionalities, and enables data services essential to support AI computing tasks.  

This upgrade will coincide with the deployment of IT4LIA, the EuroHPC AI Factory centred around Leonardo, establishing a state-of-the-art AI hub in Bologna, Italy. As part of this initiative a new AI optimised supercomputing system will be deployed through a new open tender procedure and will be integrated with the LISA partition. 

Leonardo is a powerful EuroHPC pre-exascale supercomputer which ranks 9th in the TOP500 global rankings with a performance of 241,2 petaflops. Developed by Eviden, part of the Atos Group, the system is based on the BullSequana XH2000 supercomputer and is hosted by CINECA at the Bologna Technopole in Italy.

EuroHPC JU and CINECA will continue to jointly manage access to the upgraded system's computing resources.

The deployment of LISA is scheduled for the later part of this year, 2025.

Background

Eviden has been selected following a call for tender launched in September 2024. 

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a legal and funding entity that enables the European Union and participating countries to unite and collaborate in High-Performance Computing positioning Europe as a world leader in this field. 

The EuroHPC JU has already procured ten supercomputers, located across Europe. Leonardo is the second EuroHPC supercomputer to undergo an upgrade, following Discoverer+, located in Bulgaria. The scientific community and industry users all from Europe regardless of their location can access EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls . This access allows them to speed up progress in technology, science and support the development of a wide range of applications that will benefit Europe. 

Currently, the EuroHPC JU is developing and operating 13 AI factories across Europe that offer free, customised support to SMEs and startups. These comprehensive open AI ecosystems centred around EuroHPC supercomputing facilities are supporting the growth of a highly competitive and innovative AI ecosystem in Europe.