Arrhenius will be a mid-range supercomputer capable of executing over 60 petaflops, equivalent to 60 million billion operations per second, enabling the most advanced simulations in science and technology. Arrhenius will drive breakthroughs in areas like drug discovery, new materials design, and climate change mitigation while also powering applications in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and other demanding computational tasks.
Located in Sweden, this world-class supercomputer will serve a diverse range of users across Europe, including the scientific community, industry, and the public sector. With robust security and data integrity standards, Arrhenius will be ideally suited for sensitive research involving personal data, as well as proprietary product development by private enterprises.
The procurement of Arrhenius adds a new mid-range supercomputer to the EuroHPC JU portfolio of high-performance computing (HPC) systems, further advancing the European Union’s mission to provide scientists and industries across Europe with access to state-of-the-art supercomputing infrastructure and services.
Once operational, Arrhenius will be complemented by MIMER, the EuroHPC AI Factory (AIF) located in Sweden, which will include a new AI-optimised supercomputer to be deployed through the recently closed tender procedure launched in May.
The installation of Arrhenius is scheduled to begin in September and is planned to be completed early 2026.
More details
HPE has been selected as the vendor following a procurement process initiated in July 2024.
The system, named after Carl Axel Arrhenius, a Swedish geologist and chemist who discovered gadolinite in 1787, will be hosted by Linköping University, Sweden, where the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing in Sweden (NAISS) is located. Organisations such as RISE, the Research Institute of Sweden and ENCCS, the EuroCC Competence Centre Sweden, will be involved to ensure an appropriate uptake from industrial and public sector users.
The estimated total value for Arrhenius is EUR 68.5 million. The machine will be co-funded by the EuroHPC JU, with a budget stemming from the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) and by contributions from the Swedish Research Council’s funding for NAISS. The JU will co-fund up to 35% of the total cost of the supercomputer. Access to computing resources on the new machine will be jointly managed by the EuroHPC JU and NAISS in proportion to their investments.
Background
The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity that brings together the European Union and participating countries to coordinate efforts and pool resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.
To equip Europe with a cutting-edge supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured 10 supercomputers, distributed across Europe. Three of these EuroHPC supercomputers are now ranked among the world’s top 10 most powerful supercomputers: Jupiter in Germany ranks at 4, becoming Europe’s new fastest Supercomputer along with LUMI in Finland (9th place), Leonardo in Italy (10th place).
European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls no matter where in Europe they are located, to advance science and support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe.
Currently, the EuroHPC JU is also overseeing the implementation of 13 AI factories across Europe that offer free, customised support to SMEs and startups. One of these AIFs, MIMER, is located in Sweden. MIMER will provide a mid-range AI-dedicated supercomputer that prioritises cloud-style access mechanisms and large-scale storage for sensitive data. The Swedish AI Factory will particularly build AI support and training expertise in life sciences and healthcare, material sciences, autonomous systems and the gaming industry, all of which are areas of strength in Europe in general and Sweden in particular.
Additionally, the EuroHPC JU is deploying a European Quantum Computing infrastructure, integrating diverse European quantum computing technologies with existing supercomputers. The EuroHPC JU also funds research and innovation projects to develop a full European supercomputing supply chain, from processors and software to applications to be run on these supercomputers and know-how to develop strong European HPC expertise.
Details
- Publication date
- 10 July 2025
- Author
- European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking