The Way Is Open to Building a EuroHPC World-Class Supercomputer in Hungary

Once procured, LEVENTE will be a mid-range supercomputer capable to executing at least 23 petaflops, or 23 million billion operations per second. This new supercomputer will be located in Budapest, Hungary and operated by DKF. 

Planned with energy-efficient liquid cooling and enhanced AI capabilities, LEVENTE will support scientific excellence and innovation across Europe, serving the needs of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, as well as Hungary’s academic, research, and SME communities. By expanding the AI infrastructure available to European users, LEVENTE will contribute to the broader AI Factories strategy, which is currently developing open AI ecosystems centred around EuroHPC supercomputing facilities to foster the growth of a highly competitive and innovative AI ecosystem in Europe. 

The total cost of the LEVENTE project is EUR 42 million, which will be co-funded with a maximum total budget of up to EUR 14,8 million by the EuroHPC JU (35%) and Hungary (65% of national funds). Access to its computing resources will be jointly managed by Hungary and the EuroHPC JU in proportion to their respective investments.  

The hosting agreement, which has now been signed, is a contractual document that defines the roles, rights and obligations of each party.  The procurement process for this new supercomputer will be managed by DKF in collaboration with EuroHPC JU and will begin in the immediate future. 

Background

The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a legal and funding entity created in 2018 to enable the European Union and EuroHPC JU participating countries to coordinate their efforts and pool their resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.  

In order to equip Europe with a world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured ten supercomputers, located 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 (9^th place) and  Leonardo in Italy (10^th place). Through the EuroHPC Access Calls, European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from these EuroHPC supercomputers, which rank among the world’s most powerful.    

Currently, the EuroHPC JU is also overseeing the implementation of 13 AI factories across Europe that offer free, customised support to SMEs and startups. 

The EuroHPC JU is also deploying a European Quantum Computing infrastructure, integrating diverse European quantum computing technologies with supercomputers. Last month, EuroHPC JU inaugurated PIAST-Q in Poznań, Poland, the first EuroHPC quantum computer to be inaugurated, marking a milestone in Europe’s leap into the quantum era.

In parallel, the EuroHPC JU is investing in 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. 

About the Digital Government Development and Project Management Company

The Digital Government Development and Project Management Company (DKF) supports Hungarian citizens and SMEs in developing their digital skills and encourages local businesses to enhance their level of digitalisation and RDI (research, development and innovation) activities by providing sustainable and user-friendly solutions as a digital transformation partner.

DKF Ltd., together with its legal predecessors, has been developing and operating the Hungarian HPC infrastructure for 24 years, and the HPC Competence Center for 5 years. Its current most powerful supercomputer, Komondor, has a capacity of 5 petaflops. The company plays a significant role in advancing Hungary’s digital transformation, the dissemination of artificial intelligence, the development of blockchain technologies, and the strengthening of cybersecurity. In addition, DKF leads the operation and development of the country’s HPC supercomputer infrastructure and ecosystem. As part of this infrastructure Komondor, Hungary’s most powerful supercomputer, provides cutting-edge computational capacity to support scientific research, innovation, and industrial digitalisation.

In the coming years, the company will be a key player in Hungary’s digital transformation, exerting a defining influence on the everyday lives of the citizens, the competitiveness of domestic businesses, and the modernisation of public institutions.