Intel invests in new HPC center in France

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

This week Intel chairman Craig Barrett announced that Intel is beginning a 5 year collaboration in France for the construction of a new academic research facility focused on HPC

The HPC lab initiative marks the start of a 5-year collaboration and is Intel’s first major investment in academic research in France. The four-party agreement signed today is a model of public-private partnership, linking Intel with government agencies and academia.

…Joining Intel in the effort, the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique ( CEA ), a technological research organization funded by the French government, is contributing its expertise in HPC tera architecture and integration. France’s national HPC agency, Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif, will provide its scientific end user applications and feedback. The University of Versailles St Quentin en Yvelines will make technical contributions, such as multi-core performance evaluation and code optimization.

The lab is billed as a exascale facility that will focus on hardware and software optimization.

The joint research center will be built about 20 kilometers southwest of Paris in Île-de-France Teratec, a region home to universities and other scientific research facilities. Intended to be used primarily by university students in France and other European Union countries to address future HPC challenges, the lab will seek to accelerate R&D and innovation in Europe in keeping with the Intel Labs Europe ( ILE ) initiative announced earlier this year.