Ireland is finally getting a new supercomputer with capacity to process vast amounts of data, an essential tool for those wishing to be at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence innovation.
The national high-performance computing system, CASPIr, will be operated by the University of Galway’s Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC).
It follows a collaboration agreement between the Government and the European Commission. They are providing a joint investment of €10 million to enable Ireland join AI Factory Antenna, a central hub for advancing and connecting national AI ecosystems and link directly to leading AI factories in France and Luxembourg. It is understood the supercomputer will be funded separately and be a multiple of this.
The new supercomputer will replace Kay, which began operations in 2018 and enabled Ireland to participate with big global players in high-performance computing (HPC) and at the cutting edge of quantum computing – the Holy Grail of IT – and the rapidly emerging fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and “deep learning”.
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But Kay had to be decommissioned in November 2023 when its warranty ran out. The new, more powerful version is due to be operational from 2027. It will be able to perform more than 15 “petaflops” – or 15 million billion operations – every second.
Four key research themes have been identified following go-live: environment and climate; genomics (mapping of genes); work on tiny particles known as nano-materials; and mobility with cities.
It will be available to researchers and innovators across Ireland and Europe with significantly enhanced capacity to address major challenges and opportunities under the science and society heading.
CASPIr will be co-funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU).
Minister for Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless said the successful AI Factory Antenna bid and hosting agreement marked “a major leap forward for Ireland’s AI and computing capabilities”.
“[This will] open doors for researchers, developers, public bodies and institutions across Ireland, providing access to cutting-edge infrastructure, expert support and European AI networks ... This will accelerate innovation across every corner of our economy and society,” he said.
AI Factory Antenna will provide access to computing infrastructure, technical support and training to help Irish innovators develop, test and scale AI models and applications.
President of University of Galway Prof David Burn said agreement on CASPIr heralded a new era of research capability for Europe and Ireland.
“We can now look forward to the research community reaping the rewards of this next generation of supercomputing and data-driven research as it drives University of Galway’s strategic focus on transformative data and AI to support interdisciplinary research addressing global challenges,” he said.
CASPIr takes its name from Computational Analysis and Simulation Platform for Ireland and is one of 31 supercomputers in Europe funded under the EuroHPC JU.
