EPI

The European Processor Initiative (EPI) is a project currently implemented under the second stage of the Framework Partnership Agreement signed by the Consortium with the European Commission (FPA: 101036168), whose aim is to design and implement a roadmap for a new family of low-power European processors for extreme scale computing, high-performance Big-Data and a range of emerging applications.

Funding for EPI

This project has received funding from the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under Framework Partnership Agreement No 800928 and Specific Grant Agreement No 101036168 (EPI SGA2). The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and from Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

EPI Goals The project will:

Contribute to the development of European supercomputing technologies that can compete on the global HPC market
Develop key components for the European Union to equip itself with a world-class supercomputing infrastructure
Strengthen the competitiveness and leadership of European industry and science
Develope European microprocessor and accelerator technologies with drastically better performance and power ratios; tackle important segments of broader and/or emerging HPC and Big-Data markets

The second implementation phase of the EPI will continue the initial developments of Phase 1 on European microprocessors and accelerators to support European technological autonomy and sovereignty in this critical area. Based on a solid, long-term economic approach, the EPI will deliver central components of future European supercomputers to tackle societal challenges and boost innovation and the digital transformation of the European economy and science.

The specific focus of the second phase is to finalize the development of the first generation of low-power microprocessor units and accelerators, enhancing existing technologies to target the incoming European Exascale machines, develop the second generation of and ensuring paths for industrialization and commercialization of these technologies.

EPI's Engagement in EU HPC Plans

This proposal comes as a result of European strategic plans to support the next generation of computing and data infrastructures, as EU efforts are now synchronized in establishment of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, a legal and funding entity which will enable pooling of the Union’s and national resources on High-Performance Computing to acquire, build and deploy in Europe the most powerful supercomputers of the world.

In order to spearhead these efforts, the EPI project is established as one of the cornerstones of this strategic plan – it gathers 30 partners from 10 European countries to develop the processor and ensure that the key competence of high-end chip design remains in Europe. European scientists and industry will be able to access exceptional levels of energy-efficient computing performance.

Roadmap and the way ahead for EPI

Roadmap

Administrative Information

Project Title: European Processor Initiative
Project acronym: EPI SGA 2
Call identifier: H2020-JTI-EuroHPC-2020-02
Grand agreement number: 101036168
Project coordinator Bull SAS
Duration: 36 months
Number of partners: 30
Starting date: Jan 1st 2022