The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has put its HoreKa 2 hybrid supercomputer into operation, delivering 33 petaflops of peak performance at a cost of €17 million ($19m). The system nearly doubles the output of its predecessor, the 17-petaflops HoreKa inaugurated in 2021.

HoreKa 2 sits at KIT Campus North in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It will serve research in climate science, new materials, particle physics, energy, mobility, and artificial intelligence.

"With the new system, we are able to double the computing power for simulations and AI applications," said Professor Martin Frank, member of the Board of Directors of the KIT Scientific Computing Center (SCC).

What hardware does HoreKa 2 use?

Lenovo manufactured the machine. Its CPU partition runs on Lenovo SD665 V3 servers equipped with AMD Epyc 9655 'Turin' processors.

• GPU partition: Lenovo ThinkSystem SC777 V4 servers with Nvidia GB200 GPUs
• Interconnect: Nvidia NVLink networking technology
• Memory: 250TB
• Storage: IBM Storage Scale Systems (SSS 6000) with a two-tier NVMe and HDD architecture

Lenovo's Neptune liquid cooling technology cools the GPU partition. It uses hot water to ensure "particularly energy-efficient operation and free cooling all over the year," according to the university.

How efficient is the system?

KIT gave performance and energy efficiency equal priority during development and procurement. The university claims HoreKa 2 ranks among the most energy-efficient supercomputers of its performance class worldwide.

Power supply at KIT's Campus North is 100 percent based on renewables.

"HoreKa 2 strengthens the digital capabilities of KIT and combines cutting-edge research with a clear focus on sustainability. It will allow us to create the conditions necessary to conduct data-intensive research and run modern AI applications in an energy-efficient and sustainable manner," said Professor Kora Kristof, VP of digitalization and sustainability at KIT.

"Researchers from nearly all disciplines will benefit from the new system," Frank added.

What comes next at Campus North?

KIT announced additional plans last week. The university intends to build an AI data center at Campus North at an estimated cost of €24 million ($27.2m).

The facility will support other higher education institutions, government organizations, and researchers, extending the campus's computing infrastructure beyond the university itself.

Together, the two projects represent roughly €41 million ($46.2m) in new digital research infrastructure at the site.