Europe has taken a decisive step towards technological leadership by signing a procurement contract for the continent’s next exascale supercomputer, Alice Lecoq.
This agreement, officially signed between European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaining (EuroHPC JU) and selected vendor Eviden, marks the beginning of an innovative project that will redefine Europe’s supercomputing capabilities.
EuroHPC JU Executive Director Anders Jensen emphasized the importance of this technology: “As Europe officially enters the exascale era, we are delighted to soon welcome Alice Lecock to our EuroHPC fleet.
“Leveraging pioneering European technology, this groundbreaking exascale supercomputer will take scientific discovery, industrial innovation and technological sovereignty to the next level, while ensuring exceptional energy efficiency.”
Supercomputer named after pioneer
The new machine, which celebrates the work of French computer science pioneer Alice Lecoq, will be one of the most powerful supercomputers ever built in Europe.
Once deployed, it will be able to perform more than 1 billion calculations per second. This is such a feat that it took billions of years for humans to be able to do it using calculators.
More than just a symbolic name, the Alice Lecoq project reflects Europe’s commitment to scientific excellence, innovation and technological sovereignty.
A unified platform for simulation, AI, and quantum innovation
Designed to address Europe’s most pressing scientific, social and industrial challenges, Alice Lecoq brings together large-scale simulation, advanced AI processing, data analytics and early-stage hybrid quantum technologies.
By integrating these tools into one energy-efficient environment, the system enables researchers to process complex datasets with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Its flexible architecture enables users to explore breakthroughs across fields such as climate modeling, medicine, engineering, and materials science. In these fields, computational scale is often the gateway to discovery.
Powering Europe’s AI factory and technology ambitions
Beyond academia, Alice Recoque serves as a strong backbone for Europe’s emerging AI factory network.
Start-ups and SMEs across the continent will have access to ultra-high-performance computing resources, helping them compete with global rivals and strengthening Europe’s digital competitiveness.
This role positions Alice Recoque not only as a scientific asset but also as a strategic industrial engine of Europe’s future technology economy.
Centered on cutting-edge European technology
Exascale computers are built by Eviden using an innovative combination of high-performance European technologies.
At its heart is the Eviden Sequana XH3500 platform, which features an integrated compute partition powered by an AMD Venice 256-core processor paired with a next-generation AMD MI430x GPU running in a coherent memory configuration.
The second compute partition (scalar partition) relies on the SiPearl RHEA2 ARM processor, which is designed under the European Processor Initiative (EPI).
All compute elements are connected via high-speed Bull BXI v3 interconnects, providing CPU and GPU link speeds of 400 Gb/s and 800 Gb/s, respectively, while sharing access to the data-centric storage system.
To maintain sustained performance, supercomputers use hot water direct liquid cooling in unified racks and chilled door technology in scalar racks.
System operation relies on the CEA Ocean framework powered by Eviden tools and widely used open source components such as SLURM, Kubernetes, LUSTRE, Grafana, and Prometheus.
Hosting, funding and deployment timeline
The Alice Lecoq system will be installed at CEA’s TGCC supercomputing center in Bruyere-le-Châtel, France.
It is owned by EuroHPC JU and operated by the Jules Verne consortium, a partnership led by France (through GENCI and CEA) with participation from the Netherlands (SURF) and Greece (GRNet).
The project will be funded by EuroHPC JU to the tune of €354.8 million, divided equally through the Digital Europe Program and the participating countries.
Once operational, Alice Recoque will be available to researchers, industry and public sector users across Europe, with resources distributed proportionately between EuroHPC JU and the Jules Verne consortium.
what happens next
Installation of Alice Lecoq is scheduled to begin in 2026 and will mark the beginning of a new era of supercomputing in Europe.
Combining vast processing power, cutting-edge European technology and strategic vision, Alice Lecoq is poised to be at the heart of Europe’s scientific and industrial future.
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