Barcelona's new supercomputer will aim to rival US and Asia

Barcelona will host one of Europe's three most powerful supercomputers from January 1, 2021, after being granted 100 million euros by the EU – and this machine, called MareNostrum 5, will aim to rival the American and Asian markets. How?

Barcelona Supercomputing Center's director, Mateo Valero, announced on Monday that the project will include an experimental platform whose goal will be to create European processors for future such supercomputers.

The aim is to develop European technology "in order that MareNostrum 6 only uses European processors," said Valero in the presentation of the number 5 of such series. The sixth of this series might be real by 2025.

He explained that at the moment chips are imported from the US. "Now every chip from Nvidia costs 10,000 euros, and many are needed," he argued. "We want to be the Messi of supercomputing."

Artificial Intelligence, medicine and environment

For him, supercomputer is especially key in order to rival the rest of the world in artificial intelligence (AI). Medicine and environment are other areas expected to benefit from MareNostrum 5.