The first compilation of the year of the Top500, the list that ranks the fastest supercomputers in the world, was released on May 30 in Hamburg, during ISC 2022. Europe is now in the first places of the list with the LUMI supercomputer. This machine, funded through the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is supported by a consortium of 10 countries. LUMI is the fastest supercomputer in Europe and now ranks third globally in the Top500.

 The ranking was achieved through the High Performance Linpack (HPL) benchmark – a performance measurement benchmark widely used in HPC – in which the European supercomputer achieved 151.9 petaflops. “This is an incredible result that shows the importance of European collaboration and the impact we can create when we work together,” said Anders Dam Jensen, Executive Director of EuroHPC JU.

 LUMI, is a pre-exascale supercomputer, but it is nonetheless a cutting-edge machine contributing to scientific and technological progress in the biggest challenges that humanity faces. “Not only is it a very powerful computer, but it is also exceptional in terms of sustainability,” added Kimmo Koshi, managing director of the CSC – IT Center for Science, where the machine is installed. Besides operating at 100% with renewable energy, it uses a “free cooling” system and the heat generated will be reused by the district heating network.

 Even if the european machine could not surpass Frontier (United States, new first place in the Top500 list) or Fugaku (Japan), LUMI will still have its performance improved along June. Then, with the GPU partition into operation it is expected to reach 375 petaflops, approaching the 442.01 petaflops of the Japanese machine.

The official inauguration of LUMI is scheduled for June 13 in Kajaani, Finland, and will be  broadcasted live.