German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Europe can catch up in the global race in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). His comments came during the launch of the continent's fastest supercomputer.

"The United States and China are in a fierce race for future market share in the global economy, supported by AI," Merz said during the inauguration of the Jupiter supercomputer, which will be capable of performing at least one quintillion (or one billion billion) calculations per second.

"We in Germany and Europe have every opportunity to catch up and keep pace," he emphasized.

Jupiter, based in Jülich, western Germany, is housed in a center about half the size of a football field and is equipped with about 24,000 Nvidia chips, which are preferred by the AI industry.

With a power equivalent to about one million smartphones, experts say it is the first supercomputer that can be considered internationally competitive in training AI models in Europe, AFP reported.

"In Germany and in Europe as a whole, we need sovereign computing power that is on par with our international competitors. This is a matter of both competitiveness and the security of our country," Merz said.

Researchers from various fields will have access to the €500 million supercomputer, whose applications go far beyond AI.

These range from the creation of more detailed climate forecasts that can help predict extreme weather events, to medical research and studies related to the energy transition. | BGNES