In medical research or in aerospace technology: the need for computing capacity is constantly increasing in many areas. A «superchip» is supposed to remedy the situation…

The world’s largest chip with the highest computing power for artificial intelligence (AI) will be available to top-level Bavarian research in the future.

The Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences announced that it was the first scientific data center in Europe to rely on the Wafer Scale Engine 2 – a matt gold shimmering processor that is as big as a dinner plate. It has 2.6 trillion transistors and 850,000 cores that were specially developed for AI processes.

The computer architecture makes it possible to process large amounts of data using machine learning methods. Possible applications are medical image processing or fluid mechanics in aerospace engineering. “We are currently observing that the AI ​​computing requirements of our users are doubling every three to four months,” said Professor Dieter Kranzlmüller, head of the LRZ. The integration of processors, memory and networks on a single chip enables high performance and speed. “This promises significantly more efficiency in data processing and thus faster groundbreaking scientific findings.”

The Leibniz computer center of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences is an IT service provider for the Munich universities and Bavarian universities as well as a cooperation partner for scientific institutions in Europe. The Bavarian Science Minister Markus Blume (CSU) said: “The new superchip at the LRZ is the largest in the world to date and will open up new avenues for top-level Bavarian research. With him we are sustainably strengthening Bavaria as an AI location.»