La France et l'Europe dans la course à l'exascale
法国与欧洲正全力投入百亿亿次（Exascale）超算竞赛。随着对现象建模的精度、真实性和速度需求持续增长，对计算能力和数据处理能力的需求呈指数级上升。
目前全球仅有两个国家拥有百亿亿次超算系统：美国的Frontier和Aurora，以及中国的神威·海洋之光。欧盟的目标是到2026年拥有自己的百亿亿次超算，但面临技术依赖和资金挑战。
法国在超算领域处于领先地位，拥有全球排名第11的超级计算机Adastra。然而，欧洲在处理器和加速器技术上仍依赖美国公司英伟达和AMD。为减少依赖，欧洲启动了EPI（欧洲处理器计划）等项目，旨在开发基于ARM架构的自主处理器，但进展缓慢且面临性能差距。
资金是另一大挑战。建造一台百亿亿次超算预计耗资约5亿欧元，年运营成本高达3000万至5000万欧元。尽管欧盟通过EuroHPC项目提供支持，但各国仍需承担部分费用，这可能引发成员国间的紧张关系。
百亿亿次超算将推动气候建模、新药研发和人工智能等领域的突破。对欧洲而言，这不仅是一场技术竞赛，更关乎数字主权和战略自主。欧洲能否在2026年前实现目标，将取决于其协调能力、资金投入和技术突破。
France and Europe in the Exascale Computing Race
The relentless demand for greater precision, realism, and speed in modeling complex phenomena—from climate science and astrophysics to drug discovery and artificial intelligence—has driven an exponential need for computational power and data processing capabilities. This has ignited a global race to develop exascale supercomputers, systems capable of performing at least one quintillion (10^18) calculations per second.
Europe, seeking strategic autonomy and scientific competitiveness, is a key participant. The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is orchestrating the continent's efforts. Its roadmap targets deploying its first exascale systems by the end of 2024. Two machines are at the forefront: JUPITER, to be hosted at the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, and JULES VERNE, slated for the GENCI-CEA Very Large Computing Center (TGCC) in France.
These are not merely incremental upgrades. Exascale represents a thousand-fold leap over the previous "petascale" generation. Achieving it requires breakthroughs in energy efficiency, processor architecture, and software to manage unprecedented parallelism. The European approach heavily relies on homegrown, energy-efficient processor technologies, notably from the French-Italian company SiPearl, which is designing the Rhea series of low-power CPUs specifically for European exascale supercomputers.
The stakes extend far beyond scientific prestige. Exascale computing is viewed as a foundational technology for sovereignty and innovation. It is critical for:
* Advanced Research: Simulating nuclear fusion, modeling climate change at ultra-high resolution, and exploring fundamental physics.
* Industrial Competitiveness: Accelerating the design of new materials, batteries, and aircraft, and powering large-scale AI training.
* Public Policy: Informing complex decisions on energy transitions, pandemic response, and cybersecurity.
While the United States and China already operate initial exascale systems, Europe's strategy emphasizes a sustainable ecosystem—combining cutting-edge hardware with a robust software stack and a focus on energy efficiency to manage massive power demands. The deployment of JUPITER and JULES VERNE in the coming years will be a decisive test of Europe's ability to secure a leading position in the next era of high-performance computing.
Les besoins sans cesse croissants en précision, réalisme et rapidité dans la modélisation des phénomènes ont entraîné une demande exponentielle de puissance de calcul et de traitement de données. Décryptage de cette course à l'exascale.
France and Europe are pushing into exascale computing to meet rising demands for more precise, realistic, and faster simulation and data processing.
France — national tech and research ecosystem, based in France.
Europe — regional public-sector and research computing effort, based in Europe.
[Strongly track] — exascale capability is a strategic benchmark for scientific, industrial, and AI competitiveness.
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