The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU has submitted to the Member States a new draft compromise on the regulation extending the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. The document, which is due to be discussed on Thursday 4 March in the Council of the EU Research Working Party, increases the EU’s financial contribution to the purchase of quantum computers and simulators.
As a reminder, on 18 September, the European Commission proposed adapting Regulation 2018/1488 establishing the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. The aim of this initiative, which all Member States except Malta are involved in, is to invest €8 billion in the next generation of supercomputers, in comparison with €1.1 billion in 2019-2020 (see EUROPE 12563/12).
According to the Portuguese draft compromise dated 25 February, which EUROPE has seen, all of the delegations are currently retaining a general scrutiny reservation. The document suggests increasing the EU’s financial contribution to a maximum of 50% of the purchase costs for quantum computers and quantum simulators, instead of the 35% in the Commission’s proposal. The document adds that the EU should also cover 50% of the operating costs of the machines. However, the document retains both the 35% ceiling put forward by the Commission for the purchasing costs of mid-range supercomputers and the budget from each European programme (€2.4 billion from the Digital Europe programme and €2 billion from the Connecting Europe Facility).
In another change, the draft compromise stresses that the joint venture’s governing board may decide in its work programme to restrict the involvement of suppliers to the purchasing of high-end supercomputers. Excluding suppliers in this way, for security reasons, takes into account legal entities based in associated countries and legal entities based in the EU but controlled from non-Member States (as anticipated in the Digital Europe programme) or actions directly related to the EU’s strategic autonomy.
Finally, the proposal also sets out the possibility of a participating Member State hosting several supercomputers. For example, it states that a Member State that already hosts a high-end or mid-range supercomputer may not participate again in a call for applications until five years after the selection date. It states, however, that this period is reduced to two years for the purchase of quantum computers and quantum simulators or the upgrading of a EuroHPC supercomputer with quantum accelerators.
The document can be found at: http://bit.ly/305OAjR (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)