Switzerland officially inaugurated its new supercomputer, Alps, on Saturday, positioning it as one of the fastest in the world. The supercomputer, located at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, is set to play a crucial role in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and scientific research in the country.
Economy, Education, and Research Minister Guy Parmelin hailed Alps as a symbol of Switzerland’s commitment to knowledge and progress during his speech at the inauguration ceremony. “Alps is an expression of our vision of a future characterised by knowledge and progress,” Parmelin stated. He also emphasized the supercomputer’s potential to place Switzerland at the forefront of developing trustworthy AI solutions.
In June, Alps was ranked the sixth most powerful supercomputer globally. However, at that point, it had only reached 60% of its full potential, as its construction was still underway. Now fully operational, Alps has been designed to meet the extreme data and computing demands of modern scientific research.
ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, described Alps as central to Switzerland’s goal of becoming a global leader in transparent and trustworthy AI development. In a statement, ETH Zurich emphasized that Alps would allow artificial intelligence to be utilized more fully across a variety of fields.
Andreas Krause, head of the AI Centre at ETH Zurich, highlighted the supercomputer’s capabilities for advancing complex AI models. “Alps makes it possible to train complex AI models for important applications, for example, in medicine and climate research,” Krause said. The supercomputer’s ability to handle vast amounts of data and computations opens new avenues for research and development.
Alps is already being put to use by Switzerland’s national weather service, MeteoSwiss, to improve its weather prediction models. The higher-resolution models are better suited to account for Switzerland’s mountainous terrain, enhancing the accuracy of weather forecasts.
Parmelin shared on social media platform X that Alps will be “opening new horizons, clearing the path for the future, placing Switzerland in pole position for scientific research.” He also expressed optimism about the potential for the supercomputer to advance the country’s research capabilities in AI and other scientific domains.
CSCS deputy director Michele De Lorenzi explained the supercomputer’s immense power, stating that it would take a commercial laptop 40,000 years to perform the operations that Alps can complete in just one day. The supercomputer is housed in 33 cabinets spanning 116 square meters, showcasing its vast scale and capacity.
With the introduction of Alps, Switzerland is positioning itself as a leader in the development of AI and scientific research, further cementing its role in the global tech landscape.