Jensen Huang and King Frederik X of Denmark met on stage in Copenhagen to symbolically plug in the Gefion AI supercomputer. This supercomputer is the first one to be based in Denmark and is designed to drive research in quantum computing, medicine, green energy, and more. It’s built on the Nvidia DGX SuperPOD platform and uses 1,528 Nvidia H100 GPUs, allowing it to fuel the rapid growth of the Danish industry.
“Gefion is going to be a factory of intelligence. And this factory of intelligence is a new industry that never existed before; it sits on top of the IT industry — we’re inventing something fundamentally new.” Huang said during the launch. He added, “Denmark recognizes that to innovate in AI, the most impactful technology of our time, it must foster a domestic AI infrastructure and ecosystem. The Gefion supercomputer will supercharge the scientists of Denmark with local AI computing infrastructure to drive advancements in life sciences, climate research, and quantum computing.”
Gefion, Danmark’s new #AI supercomputer, was launched today. A state-of-the-art #NVIDIADGX SuperPOD with 1528 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs, it is ready to accelerate research in #quantum, #healthcare and #greentech.The Novo Nordisk Foundation works with @Eifo_fond and @nvidia… pic.twitter.com/n16RAFhhIsOctober 23, 2024
Nvidia is at the forefront of developing AI hardware, and this rush by several companies and tech giants to gain the lead in this burgeoning industry has made the company the most valuable in the world, ahead of Apple, Microsoft, and Google (although it has since gone down to third place). This demand also made Jensen Huang, its CEO, among the world’s richest, with a net worth greater than Intel’s market cap. The King of Denmark even jokingly said, “I can feel that I am not the only king in this room — I think the other one has a leather jacket on. And I think it’s cool to have you here, Jensen.”
The Gefion AI supercomputer is owned and operated by the Danish Centre for AI Innovation A/S (DCAI), a partnership between the private Novo Nordisk Foundation and the government-owned Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO). The former committed DKK 600 million, around US$87 million, towards the supercomputer’s initial cost, while the latter provided DKK 100 million, or about US$14.5 million. This investment gave the Danish government a 15% stake in DCAI through the EIFO.
Denmark has been investing heavily in technology, with a deep focus on AI and research, allowing it to become a technological leader. The launch of Gefion would help accelerate the Danish AI industry even further, helping the country cement its place in the future of high-performance computing.