Federal and state politicians visit the HLRS

Baden-Württemberg Minister-President Kretschmann, Federal Research Minister Özdemir and Baden-Württemberg Science Minister Olschowski highlighted the significance of the center and the AI Factory HammerHAI. Both are important pillars of the German and European AI ecosystem.

Prof. Dr. Michael Resch, director of HLRS, led off the meeting by providing an overview of the center’s mission and key activities, which include supporting science, industry, and the public sector by providing world-class supercomputing infrastructure, services, and solutions for simulation, artificial intelligence, and visualization.

Among the major recent developments at HLRS was the announcement of HammerHAI, Germany’s first "AI Factory." Announced by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking in December 2024, this project will lower barriers that start-ups, SMEs, large enterprises, and scientific institutions face in accessing and using artificial intelligence capabilities. As explained by Dennis Hoppe, leader of HLRS’s Department of Converged Computing, HammerHAI will address the demands of sectors such as manufacturing, automotive, mobility, and scientific research, accelerating AI-driven innovation, fostering workforce development, and supporting a robust AI ecosystem across Europe.

HLRS is coordinating HammerHAI in partnership with prominent organizations within the German high-performance computing and artificial intelligence communities, and has signed a hosting agreement with the EuroHPC JU to install a large-scale, AI-optimized supercomputer in Stuttgart in 2026. BMBF and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts are among the sponsors of the HammerHAI project, along with the EuroHPC JU and the science ministries of Bavaria and Lower Saxony.

Commenting on the new AI Factory, Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann said, "Baden-Württemberg is at the forefront in the fields of supercomputing and AI, and is internationally competitive. HLRS plays a key role in this. The new Hunter supercomputer and the European AI Factory HammerHAI are groundbreaking milestones for our high-tech region, our economy, and our technological sovereignty. Our aim is not only to develop new technologies, but also to make them usable in a targeted manner for science, business, and society. As a central driver of knowledge transfer to the commercial sector, HLRS is making a decisive contribution."

Minister Cem Özdemir added "HLRS and the AI Factory being established here with other partners are important pillars of the German and European AI ecosystem. They show that the necessary conditions already exist here that will enable AI ‘made in Europe’ to remain globally competitive. This is all the more important at a time when long-standing partnerships are less stable than in the past. It is precisely now that we in Europe need to be even more determined to develop our own potential. Especially in key technologies such as AI, we urgently need technological sovereignty. We can only achieve this through a successful interaction between excellent research and targeted technology transfer. With its focus on implementing research results in a practical way and promoting industrial partnerships, this is what HLRS stands for. The AI Factories will expand upon this approach, providing sustainable support for the development of the AI ecosystem."

During the visit to HLRS, Dr. Andreas Wierse of nonprofit HPC- and AI-consultancy SICOS BW also provided an overview of the Smart Data Innovation Lab (SDIL), a BMBF-funded initiative created to accelerate the uptake of artificial intelligence in industry and public sector agencies. The SDIL facilitates access to cutting-edge AI solutions and services, giving industry and the public sector tools it can use to develop its own AI solutions. As Dr. Wierse reported, the SDIL has completed innovative projects to test services across a wide range of domains, including industrial applications and adaptive systems, medicine and fitness, knowledge engineering, and large language models, among others.

Following these introductory remarks, Minister-President Kretschmann, Minister Özdemir, and Minister Olschowski visited the HLRS computing room, gaining an up-close look at the center’s newest flagship computer, Hunter. Inaugurated in January 2025, Hunter offers a powerful infrastructure for large-scale simulation, artificial intelligence, and data analytics applications in science, industry, and the public sector. As representatives of HLRS also explained, increasing energy efficiency and sustainability are essential components of the concept behind Hunter. It offers nearly twice the computing power of its predecessor, Hawk, while using 80% less power at peak performance. Prof. Resch also described plans for HLRS’s next-generation supercomputing infrastructure. This includes its upcoming Herder supercomputer, which will provide a major leap in computational performance when it arrives in 2027.

Minister Petra Olschowski remarked, "Hunter’s inauguration is a great success in our strategy to consistently and continually expand our supercomputing capabilities in Baden-Württemberg, an approach that is unique in Germany. Hunter will open up new horizons for simulation, artificial intelligence, and data analysis. It ensures that research and development happens at the highest level, strengthening our ability to innovate and our economy. Not just in Baden-Württemberg, but in Germany." 

Peter Middendorf, rector of the University of Stuttgart, said: "Hunter offers scientists at the University of Stuttgart and throughout Germany a future-proof infrastructure for AI-based simulations and high-performance computing of a new quality. But Hunter also benefits the entire ecosystem of our university with its global players, its strong medium-sized companies and its growing start-up scene. The AI factory HammerHai is also a booster for the AI infrastructure. It has the potential to become a central cornerstone for the AI ecosystem in Europe."

The final stop on the tour of HLRS was the CAVE, a facility for virtual reality. The CAVE transforms data into interactive, immersive visualizations, making it easier to comprehend and discuss complex systems. Scientists, engineers, and public sector agencies have worked with visualizations scientists at HLRS to investigate climate change, design and optimize high-tech products, and explore scenarios in city planning using urban digital twins. Representatives of the HLRS Visualization Department demonstrated some recent applications for visualization in industry and for understanding the causes and spread of air pollution in Stuttgart.