Finland’s new supercomputer Roihu triples national computing capacity

Roihu triples the computing capacity of Finland’s existing national supercomputers. It has been designed and built specifically to meet the needs of Finnish research.

Together, Roihu and the pan-European LUMI supercomputer located in Finland create a unique environment for Finnish academic research and RDI, enabling the customization of the best tools for the diverse needs of researchers and companies. Finland’s strength lies in its strong ecosystem, where high-performance computing is complemented by data management and competence development.

Roihu is ideally suited for training artificial intelligence models, AI research, and the analysis of large data volumes. Supercomputers are essential tools in areas such as modern drug and vaccine development, climate research, and material science. As data intensive science continues to grow, the range of applications for supercomputing is expanding into ever new fields. Supercomputers also enhance companies’ RDI activities and product development.

”Finland is a forerunner in high-performance computing and the use of data. Roihu is a significant national investment that provides researchers with state-of-the-art computational capabilities. Looking ahead, strengthening interdisciplinary research and combining data across disciplines will be increasingly essential for generating new knowledge and deeper insights into the world around us. Supercomputers play a vital role in this effort, and Finland has made long-term investments in them. The investment in Roihu also supports our national objective of increasing R&D funding to four per cent of GDP,” says the Minister of Science and Culture Mari-Leena Talvitie.

The Roihu supercomputer also introduces new capabilities for researchers. Roihu will be integrated with CSC’s secure data management environments, enabling researchers to use high-performance computing with sensitive and confidential data. This makes it possible, for example, to utilize health data in computations, which may in the future lead to new treatments or medicines.

Connecting Roihu to a quantum computer opens opportunities to combine high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. This hybrid computing approach enables entirely new ways of solving complex scientific problems. By international comparison, Finland is in an exceptionally strong position in the development of these technologies.

“It is excellent that Finland has chosen to invest in high-performance computing, which helps advance the data economy, digitalization, the development of new technologies, and the creation of new expertise. The societal impact of high-performance computing is substantial. According to the study of Taloustutkimus, every euro invested in CSC’s high-performance computing services has returned 25–37 euros to society. Roihu raises the tools available to Finnish research to a new level, and it is accessible to all universities and research institutes,” says Kimmo Koski, the Managing Director of CSC.

“A key part of CSC’s services is tailored user support and training in the use of computing systems within researchers’ specific disciplines. As high-performance computing expands into new fields, it enables the development of new capabilities and promotes interdisciplinary research that combines data from different domains. This also supports RDI projects between research organizations and companies. Ownership and governance of Roihu remain in Finnish hands, which strengthens national resilience and security of supply, ensuring that the Finnish research system can continue to operate under all circumstances,” says Pekka Lehtovuori, the Director of Scientific Computing Infrastructures at CSC.

Roihu is a supercomputer manufactured by Bull, based on the BullSequana XH3000 hybrid system. It includes 486 CPU nodes, 132 GPU nodes, and specialized nodes for visualization and memory-intensive workloads. The computing performance of Roihu’s CPU nodes is 10.5 petaflops, while the GPU nodes deliver 23.4 petaflops. One petaflop equals one quadrillion calculations per second.

“Roihu reflects a long-standing collaboration with the Nordics region where we have delivered numerous computing projects, and in particular with CSC, built on a shared commitment to reliable and sustainable computing for the research community. By supporting national supercomputing initiatives as well as AI and Giga factories across Europe, we aim to contribute to scientific excellence, advanced AI development and strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty,” says Bruno Lecointe, the Head of HPC, AI and Quantum Computing at Bull.