Hyperion, the DIPC’s new supercomputer
This morning, Jokin Bildarratz visited the new Hyperion supercomputer at the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC). With over 14,000 cores and 150 TB of RAM, Hyperion has three times the power of its predecessor and serves the entire research community of the Basque Country.
The Basque Government’s Minister for Education, Jokin Bildarratz, together with the Deputy Minister for Universities and Research, Adolfo Morais, and joined by the President of the DIPC, Pedro Miguel Echenique, visited the Hyperion supercomputer this morning at the Supercomputing Centre of the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC). Since its power has been increased, Hyperion has become the third most powerful supercomputer in Spain, and it serves researchers from the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network. Its network of users consists of the nine Basic Research and Excellence Centres (BERC), the universities of the Basque Country, and Cooperative Research Centres such as CIC nanoGUNE and CIC biomaGUNE, health research centres such as Biogipuzkoa and technology centres such as Tecnalia.
Since 2017, the Department of Education has invested €5,925,000 in acquiring and upgrading supercomputing equipment. 2.8 million of this was spent on building and commissioning Hyperion.
Hyperion is now being used to simulate the formation of galaxies and the behaviour of new materials and for developments in quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and computational chemistry, among other projects. Supercomputers of this kind are designed to facilitate the work of research staff because they are capable of breaking down a large problem into several small, manageable ones. The results from each of these are then combined to find the final solution in a shorter period of time.
As explained by the Director of the Supercomputing Centre, Txomin Romero, Hyperion has over 14,000 cores and 150 TB of RAM, and has three times the power of its predecessor, the Atlas supercomputer. It currently serves over 500 scientists in our ecosystem.
The construction of Hyperion is part of the overall strategy of the Basque Government’s Department of Education to provide the scientific community with the necessary tools and infrastructure to carry out its work. Thanks to this commitment, in addition to the arrival of the Hyperion at the DIPC, the Biofisika Bizkaia BERC currently houses the most advanced high-resolution cryo-microscope model currently available, and the BCBL has installed innovative magnetoencephalography equipment to record cortical activity.
Hyperion is part of the approach to generate new knowledge through the four strategic areas identified in the IKUR Strategy: neurosciences, quantum technologies, neutrionics (neutron and neutrino physics) and supercomputing and artificial intelligence, as well as supporting other important areas of the Basque research community, such as astrophysics and cosmology, climate science and advanced materials science.
During the visit, Minister Bildarratz attended a meeting with researchers working in the Basque Country who have obtained an ERC Grant from the European Commission. Hyperion and other scientific infrastructures are helping to boost the scientific network’s growing global recognition, as illustrated by the rise in the number of research projects currently enjoying such recognition in Europe. The Basque Country currently has a total of 28 active ERC grants. Of these, ten are ERC Starting Grants; ten are ERC Consolidator Grants; six are Advanced Grants and another two are ERC Synergy Grants.
