BSC to host one of seven European AI factories to drive its development in the business ecosystem

• The European Commission and the EuroHPC JU have announced the approval of the “AI Factory” project, which will be implemented through the EuroHPC JU and will start in 2025 with the aim of being fully operational the same year.
• This infrastructure will provide access to powerful computational resources and R&D services to companies, startups, SMEs and scientists, accelerating the development of artificial intelligence applications aligned with European values.
• This initiative foresees a total investment of close to €198 million. The European Commission, within the framework of the Horizon Europe funding programme, will contribute 98 million euros, the Spanish Government will contribute almost 62 million euros through the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Government of Catalonia will allocate 14 million euros.

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) will receive nearly €200 million to host the creation of one of the first seven ‘AI Factories’, the European Commission and the EuroHPC JU announced today. This initiative will turn the BSC into an epicentre of AI (Artificial Intelligence) development, enabling both the public and private sector to drive high-impact science and technology R&D projects.

To this end, it will also rely on the Spanish Supercomputing Network (RES), an alliance of 14 organisations and their supercomputers distributed throughout Spain to offer High Performance Computing services. The BSC's proposal includes an expansion of its supercomputing capacity with an upgrade of MareNostrum 5, which will be equipped with advanced artificial intelligence accelerator technology for training and development of large-scale generative models.

The project will begin deployment in 2025 with the aim of being fully operational by the end of 2025.

It is an ambitious proposal to become one of Europe's first AI Factories, a new type of infrastructure designed by the European Commission to drive innovation and development in AI. This initiative is part of the European Union's recent package of measures to position Europe as a global reference in AI, favouring alignment with the EU's ethical and regulatory values.

The AI Factory will integrate advanced technological resources, data and specialised talent. This ecosystem will provide companies, startups, SMEs and institutions with access to AI-optimised supercomputing infrastructure and a network of complementary services.

The aim is to democratise access to AI resources for resource-constrained sectors and thus foster innovation in areas such as biomedicine, climate science and chip design, following the European vision of building generative AI aligned with EU values.

The AI Factory project foresees a total investment of close to 198 million euros. Of this amount, the Spanish Government will contribute almost 62 million euros through the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Government of Catalonia will allocate 14 million euros. In addition, the project will also have international contributions: the Government of Portugal will invest 15.6 million euros, the Government of Turkey 6.5 million euros and the Government of Romania 1 million euros. This total sum will be doubled by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe funding programme, with a contribution of 98 million euros, consolidating European backing for this pioneering initiative.

“The Government of Spain has always been committed to responsible innovation in artificial intelligence. With the BSC AI Factory we are taking a firm step towards democratising access to artificial intelligence to increase the competitiveness of our ecosystem, but above all to ensure that this competitiveness leads to an improvement in our society”, said the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, Óscar López.

In turn, the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, underlined the Government's commitment to a project that “will allow us to position Spain as one of the benchmark countries in the development of artificial intelligence and, furthermore, to encourage both the public and private sectors to develop R&D projects with an outstanding impact on science and technology”.

The support for this European call, approved today by the Executive Council of the Government of Catalonia, is a budget commitment of 14 million euros. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to improve the quality of life of citizens. With this significant investment in cutting-edge projects, Catalonia is promoting the implementation of disruptive technologies and the transition towards a more sustainable and competitive model”, said Núria Montserrat, the Catalan Minister for Research and Universities.

The vertical integration of AI into the business sector can become a crucial factor in unlocking higher productivity. “In this sense, the window of opportunity for the intersection of supercomputing and biomedicine is maximum. We must also highlight here the positioning of Catalonia as a benchmark in Spain and Europe in the field of advanced therapies, therapeutic and diagnostic products that combine drugs, devices and biological components”, added Montserrat. It is expected that the application of AI throughout the life cycle of drugs, particularly for the analysis of clinical data, will maximise the development of personalised medical treatments.

Mateo Valero, director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, said: “The AI Factory located at BSC will be a key pole for the promotion of the innovation ecosystem in artificial intelligence in Europe, and will be decisive for the adoption of these new technologies by the business community, mainly startups and SMEs, and the public administration. To this end, the capabilities of MareNostrum 5 will be reinforced with state-of-the-art technology, hardware and software, for the development of AI and a large repository of data, which will serve sectors as broad and diverse as the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, legal, financial, climate, public and media sectors”. He adds: “This major commitment will serve to bring, through large computational infrastructures such as MareNostrum 5, artificial intelligence to all sectors of society, and will enable the development of artificial intelligence aligned with European ethical values”.

Artificial Intelligence at the heart of European innovation

The Barcelona AI Factory is aligned with the European Commission's report on Generative AI and the recent ‘Draghi Report’ on AI and its potential in multiple sectors. These guidelines reflect the importance of having infrastructures that enable the use of AI models in science, medicine, industry, and sustainability, among others.

With a first investment of 580 million euros by the European Commission for the High Performance Supercomputer Network (EuroHPC JU), member countries are called upon to contribute to these strategic projects. In the case of Barcelona, the AI Factory will not only enhance MareNostrum 5, but will open its doors to European talent, promoting an experimental supercomputing infrastructure designed for AI.

This AI Factory is a key step in strengthening European digital autonomy and Spain's leadership in the ethical development of artificial intelligence.

This article was first published on 10 December by Barcelona Supercomputing Center.