Legal provisions of COM(2024)29 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as regards an EuroHPC initiative for start-ups to boost European leadership in trustworthy Artificial Intelligence

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dossier COM(2024)29 - Amendment of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 as regards an EuroHPC initiative for start-ups to boost European leadership in ...
document COM(2024)29
date January 24, 2024


Article 1

Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 is amended as follows:


(1) Article 2 is amended as follows:

(a) the following points (3a) and (3b) are inserted:

‘(3b) ‘Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer’ means a supercomputer that is primarily designed for training large scale, general-purpose artificial intelligence models and emerging artificial intelligence applications;

(3c) ‘Artificial Intelligence Factory’ means a centralised or distributed entity providing an Artificial Intelligence supercomputing service infrastructure which is composed of an Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer or Artificial Intelligence partition of supercomputer, an associated data centre, dedicated access and artificial intelligence-oriented supercomputing services and attracting and pooling talent to provide the competences required in using the supercomputers for Artificial Intelligence;’;

(b) point (9) is replaced by the following:

‘(9) EuroHPC supercomputer means any computing system fully owned by the Joint Undertaking or co-owned with other Participating States or a consortium of private partners, which can be a classical supercomputer (high-end supercomputer, industrial-grade supercomputer, Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer or mid-range supercomputer), a hybrid classical-quantum computer, a quantum computer or a quantum simulator;’;


(2) in Article 3(2), the following point (h) is added:

‘(h) to develop and operate the Artificial Intelligence Factories in support of the further development of a highly competitive and innovative Artificial Intelligence ecosystem in the Union’;

(3) in Article 4(1), the following point (h) is added:

‘(h) Artificial Intelligence Factory pillar for trustworthy and ethical Artificial Intelligence, covering activities for the provision of an Artificial Intelligence-oriented supercomputing service infrastructure that is aiming at further developing the innovation capabilities and skills of the Artificial Intelligence ecosystem; it shall include the following activities:

(i) the acquisition and operation of Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers co-located with large data centres or connected to data centres via very high speed networks;

(ii) the upgrade of existing EuroHPC supercomputers with Artificial Intelligence capabilities;

(iii) providing access to the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers or EuroHPC supercomputers upgraded with Artificial Intelligence, including widening their use to a large number of public and private users, including startups and small and medium-sized enterprises;

(iv) the operation of centralised or distributed Artificial Intelligence-oriented supercomputing service centres in support of the Artificial Intelligence startup and research and innovation ecosystem providing algorithmic support, support for the further development, training, testing, evaluation and validation of Artificial Intelligence training models and systems, and support for the development of emerging large-scale Artificial Intelligence applications in strategic areas such as health and care, climate change, robotics, or connected and automated driving.

(v) the operation of supercomputer-friendly programming facilities, including for the parallelisation of Artificial Intelligence applications for optimising the use of supercomputing capabilities;

(vi) the operation of other Artificial Intelligence-enabling supercomputing services;

(vii) attracting, pooling and training talent to develop their competences and skills in using the EuroHPC supercomputers for Artificial Intelligence;

(viii) interacting with the other Artificial Intelligence Factories, making their services accessible across Europe and cooperating with the EuroHPC Competence Centres and Centres of Excellence, and with relevant Artificial Intelligence initiatives of the Union, such as the hubs of Artificial Intelligence startups, the Artificial Intelligence and data ecosystems, the Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities, the European central Artificial Intelligence platform, the Artificial Intelligence-oriented Digital Innovation Hubs, the Artificial Intelligence related European Instititute of Innovation and Technology Knowledge and Innovation Communities, relevant European research infrastructures and other related initiatives.

(4) in Article 9(5), the following point (g) is added:

‘(g) for the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers the following additional selection criteria shall apply for the hosting entities:

(i) proximity with an established datacentre;

(ii) vision, plans and capability of the hosting entity to address the challenges of the Artificial Intelligence startup and research and innovation ecosystem and the Artificial Intelligence user community and providing a supportive centralised or distributed Artificial Intelligence-oriented supercomputing service;

(iii) quality and pertinence of experience and know-how available at the intended team that would be in charge for the supportive Artificial Intelligence-oriented supercomputing service environment;

(iv) plans for interaction and cooperation with other Artificial Intelligence Factories, with EuroHPC Competence Centres and EuroHPC Centres of Excellence and with relevant Artificial Intelligence activities such as the hubs of Artificial Intelligence startups, the Artificial Intelligence and data ecosystems, the Artificial Intelligence Testing and Experimentation Facilities, the European central Artificial Intelligence platform, the Artificial Intelligence-oriented Digital Innovation Hubs and other related initiatives;

(v) existing capabilities and future plans of the hosting entity to contribute to the development of the talent pool’;

(5) in Article 9, the following paragraph (6a) is added:

(6a) For the Artificial Intelligence dedicated supercomputers referred to in Article 12a, the hosting entity shall create a one-stop shop for the startups and other users to facilitate access to its support services.

(6) in Article 10(2), point (l) is replaced by the following:

‘(l) the specific conditions applicable when the hosting entity operates a EuroHPC supercomputer for industrial usage, or an Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer.’;

(7) the following Article 12a is inserted:

‘Article 12a

Acquisition and ownership of Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers

1. The Joint Undertaking shall acquire Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers and shall own them.

2. The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5(1) shall cover up to 50 % of the acquisition costs plus up to 50 % of the operating costs of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers.

The remaining total cost of ownership of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers shall be covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium, possibly supplemented by the contributions referred to in Article 6.

3. The selection of the supplier of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers shall be based on tender specifications that shall be demand-driven, shall take into account the user requirements and the general system specifications provided by the selected hosting entity in its application for the call for expression of interest. The selection shall also address the security of the supply chain.

4. The Joint Undertaking may act as first user of Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers that integrate technologies primarily developed in the Union.

5. The Governing Board may decide in the work programme, if duly justified for security reasons, to condition the participation of suppliers in the acquisition of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers in accordance with Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 or to limit the participation of suppliers for security reasons or actions directly related to the Union's strategic autonomy, in accordance with Article 18(4) of that Regulation.

6. The Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers shall be located in a hosting entity of a EuroHPC supercomputer located in the Union.

7. Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, at the earliest four years after the successful acceptance test by the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer installed in a hosting entity, the ownership of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer may be transferred to that hosting entity, sold to another entity or decommissioned upon decision of the Governing Board and in accordance with the hosting agreement. In the case of transfer of ownership of a Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer, the hosting entity shall reimburse the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the supercomputer that is transferred. If there is no transfer of ownership to the hosting entity but a decision for decommissioning, the relevant costs shall be shared equally by the Joint Undertaking and the hosting entity. The Joint Undertaking shall not be liable for any costs incurred after the transfer of ownership of the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputer or after its sale or decommissioning.’

(8) Article 15 is amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. The Joint Undertaking may launch a call for expressions of interest to upgrade the EuroHPC supercomputers it owns or co-owns, to raise the performance level of the supercomputer close to exascale, or for increasing the Artificial intelligence capabilities of the supercomputer, or to increase the operational performance of the supercomputer in any other way, including quantum accelerators.’; paragraph 2 is deleted;

(b) 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5. The percentage of the Union’s financial contribution for the acquisition costs of the upgrade shall be the same as the percentage of the Union’s financial contribution for the original EuroHPC supercomputer, depreciated over the expected remaining lifetime of the original supercomputer. The percentage of the Union’s financial contribution for the additional operational costs of the upgrade shall be the same as the percentage of the Union’s financial contribution for the original EuroHPC supercomputer.’;

(9) Article 16 is amended as follows:

(a) the following paragraph 1b is inserted:

‘1b. The Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers and EuroHPC supercomputers upgraded for Artificial Intelligence capabilities shall primarily be used for the development, testing, evaluation, and validation of large scale, general purpose artificial intelligence training models and emerging Artificial Intelligence applications, as well as for the further development of artificial intelligence solutions in the Union requiring High Performance Computing and the execution of large-scale Artificial Intelligence algorithms for the resolution of science problems.’;

(b) the following paragraph 2b is inserted:

‘2b. The Governing Board shall define special access conditions for the Artificial Intelligence-dedicated supercomputers and the EuroHPC supercomputers upgraded for Artificial Intelligence capabilities in accordance with Article 17 taking into account the specific needs of the Artificial Intelligence startup and research ecosystem. This shall include dedicated access to startups. Only proposals for developing trustworthy and ethical Artificial Intelligence models, systems and applications that arein line with EU values shall be eligible for access.’

(10) Article 17, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. The share of the Union's access time to each high-end, quantum, and Artificial Intelligence-dedicated EuroHPC supercomputer shall be directly proportional to the financial contribution of the Union referred to in Article 5(1) to the total cost of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer and shall thus not exceed 50 % of the total access time of the EuroHPC supercomputer.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.