The collaboration between AMD, HPC and the University of Stuttgart aims to accelerate the development of HPC and AI in the region. The two parties plan to launch two supercomputers: Hunter and Herder, the former is expected to be functional in 2025, and the latter is a hyperscale system planned to be deployed in 2027.
Hunter and Herder aim to take the region's high-performance computing and artificial intelligence capabilities to new heights, providing cutting-edge infrastructure for multiple industry applications such as artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance data analytics (HPDA). The total cost of Hunter and Herder is expected to be €115 million, funded by multiple government organizations.
Hunter will use HPECrayEX4000 supercomputer cabinets. It houses a total of 136 nodes, interconnected via four HPESlingshot high-performance interconnects. The system will take full advantage of AMD's newly released MI300A accelerator, which integrates high-performance GPU, CPU and HBM memory on a single chip package.
After integrating AMD's InstinctMI300AAPU, the peak performance of Hunter at the Stuttgart High Performance Computing Center (HLRS) will be increased to 39 petaFLOPS, which is a significant improvement over the center's previous Hawk supercomputer (26petaFLOPS). The final configuration of the Herder supercomputer will be determined by the end of 2025.
Let’s briefly review AMD’s MI300AInstinctAPU, which is an Exascale-level APU that uses TCO-optimized memory capacity and Zen4 cores. Each CCD has 8 cores and 16 threads, so there are a total of 24 cores and 48 threads on the active chip. Additionally, there are 24MB of L2 cache (1MB per core) and a separate cache pool (32MB per CCD). Here are the highlights of the APU:
The first integrated CPU+GP U kit
Targeting the ultra-large-scale supercomputer market
AMDMI300A (integrated CPU+GPU)
AMDMI300X (graphics processor only)
153 billion transistors
24 Zen4 cores
CDNA3GPU architecture
192GBHBM3 memory
8 chipsets + 8 memory stacks (5nm + 6nm process)
With the addition of the Hunter supercomputer in 2025, the EU's computing capabilities will further increase, as the JUPITER supercomputer currently under development will be the region's first exascale supercomputer. It remains to be seen how cutting-edge computing power will contribute to the overall development process, especially in the fields of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.