The Flemish Supercomputer Centre (VSC) has selected the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (Free University of Brussels) to host and manage the next Flemish Tier-1 supercomputer.

The supercomputer will be housed in a Nexus-built data center at the Green Energy Park in Zellik, a town in the province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium.

According to Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), the data center is Belgium’s “most sustainable and high-performance,” with the €12 million ($12.5m) investment in the supercomputer supporting the university’s ambitions to turn the Green Energy Park into an innovation campus. The system is due to be operational by fall, 2025.

The announcement marks the first time the VUB will host and manage the Flemish Tier-1 supercomputer, succeeding the 3.3 petaflops Hortense, which is currently housed at Ghent University. A Tier-1 supercomputer is defined as a single, larger system that serves all of Flanders, as opposed to a Tier-2 supercomputer – a smaller system hosted by individual universities.

VUB is an anchor tenant of the data center, alongside Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussels (Brussels University Hospital), and the facility has been designed in collaboration with both.

In June 2024, European colocation firm Penta Infra acquired the 10,000 sqm (107,639 sq ft), nine-story data center that will house the supercomputer for an undisclosed amount.

At the time, the company said the site would offer 7.2 MW of IT load based on a 12.5 MVA renewable power feed. It added that the data center included a photovoltaic façade generating up to 0.5MW, rainwater recuperation for cooling, and heat reuse based on a thermal smart grid.

“Supercomputers are of strategic importance for Flanders,” said Jo Brouns, Flemish minister for science policy and innovation. “They enable our researchers, governments, and industries to tackle the major challenges of tomorrow. Complex and time-intensive calculations, such as climate simulations and AI model training, will be performed more efficiently.”

No information about the compute power of the new supercomputer has been disclosed. However, VUB said the system will rely on “free air cooling” for the majority of the year, with “active cooling” only being required during warmer periods. The university added that solar panels will also be used to help offset the system’s energy costs.

The VSC is managed by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), a collaboration between the five Flemish university associations. It provides the research community, including universities, colleges, and businesses, with infrastructure and support for high-performance computing.