Europe jumps into ‘incredibly costly’ AI supercomputing race

Posted by Admin December 11, 2024 Infra

Over the years, the supercomputer shifted from being driven solely by more “traditional” CPUs (central processing units) to being partly driven by GPUs, the graphical processors that allow for AI optimization.

“Our current system, the MareNostrum 5, is already a little bit optimized for AI,” said Josep Maria Martorell, associate director at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.

The Commission selected the project and it’s now bound to get a further upgrade. But that upgrade will have to be more than just a technical one, Martorell said, given that the EU wants the new AI supercomputers to be accessible to startups.

“The need [of] a startup is very different than the need [of] a scientist,” Martorell said. Startups don’t just need computing capacity; they also need data storage, which will have to be added to the supercomputing facility.

Over time, European AI startups will have to generate revenue to justify the Commission’s initial investment.

It’s hard to say whether they’ll get there, especially since it’s already a challenge for leading, established AI companies.

Martens said it could be hard to avoid U.S. Big Tech companies in that regard after all.

“Many AI startups, including European startups, collaborate with Big Tech companies in the [United States] … Microsoft, Google and so on, Meta … because those companies have the global business models that can generate the revenue that you need to repay those investment costs. In Europe, we don’t have those companies.”