Denmark Unveils Gefion: A Sovereign AI Supercomputer to Tackle Global Challenges
In a groundbreaking moment for Denmark, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang joined King Frederik X to inaugurate the nation’s largest sovereign AI supercomputer, Gefion. This cutting-edge machine is set to drive advancements in quantum computing, clean energy, biotechnology, and other critical areas, benefiting both Danish society and the global community.
Named after Gefion, a goddess from Danish mythology, this AI supercomputer is powered by an NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, equipped with 1,528 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs, and interconnected through NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking. Gefion represents a significant leap forward in Denmark’s technological capabilities, marking its entry into the elite group of nations with sovereign AI infrastructure.
Denmark’s Vision for Sovereign AI
The Gefion supercomputer is operated by the Danish Center for AI Innovation (DCAI), a company established with funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation—the world’s wealthiest charitable foundation—and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark. The symbolic launch event in Copenhagen saw King Frederik X, Jensen Huang, and Nadia Carlsten, CEO of DCAI, officially power up the supercomputer.
Huang, a visionary in the tech industry, described Gefion as a “factory of intelligence,” emphasizing its role in creating a new industry that builds on the IT sector. “We’re inventing something fundamentally new,” he said. The supercomputer is a cornerstone in Denmark’s journey toward achieving sovereign AI, which involves developing artificial intelligence using a nation’s own data, workforce, infrastructure, and business networks.
“What country can afford not to have this infrastructure, just as every country realizes you have communications, transportation, healthcare, fundamental infrastructures—the fundamental infrastructure of any country surely must be the manufacturer of intelligence,” Huang stated. “For Denmark to be one of the handful of countries in the world that has now initiated on this vision is really incredible.”
Applications and Global Impact
Gefion is designed to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including infectious diseases, climate change, and food security. The supercomputer is currently being prepared for use, with a pilot phase set to begin soon. This phase will focus on projects leveraging AI to accelerate progress in areas such as quantum computing, drug discovery, and energy efficiency.
Huang expressed optimism about the potential of AI in revolutionizing fields like digital biology. “The era of computer-aided drug discovery must be within this decade. I’m hoping that what the computer did to the technology industry, it will do for digital biology,” he said.
Supporting Breakthroughs Across Industries
One of the first organizations to utilize Gefion is the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which aims to deliver faster and more accurate weather forecasts. By leveraging Gefion, DMI expects to reduce forecast times from hours to mere minutes while significantly lowering the energy consumption associated with traditional forecasting methods.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen are also tapping into Gefion’s capabilities to simulate quantum computer circuits on a large scale. This simulation will increase the system’s capacity from 36 to 40 entangled qubits, bringing it closer to achieving “quantum supremacy,” where quantum computers outperform traditional ones using fewer resources.
In collaboration with the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen is working on a multi-modal genomic foundation model. This model aims to enhance disease mutation analysis and vaccine design by improving signal detection and the functional understanding of genomes. The ability to train large language models (LLMs) on Gefion makes these advancements possible.
Startups are also benefiting from Gefion’s immense computational power. For instance, Go Autonomous is using the supercomputer to develop an AI model capable of understanding and processing multi-modal inputs, including text, layout, and images. Another startup, Teton, is building an AI Care Companion with large video pretraining, leveraging Gefion’s capabilities.
Collaborations with NVIDIA
Gefion’s launch positions Denmark as a leader in tackling global scientific challenges with significant social impact. The supercomputer enables researchers to collaborate with NVIDIA experts on complex problems, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology research. For example, the NVIDIA BioNeMo platform is being used for protein design and other groundbreaking applications.
Additionally, scientists are working with NVIDIA on fault-tolerant quantum computing using NVIDIA CUDA-Q, an open-source hybrid quantum computing platform. These collaborations are expected to yield transformative solutions across various industries.
Denmark’s Leap into the Future
The launch of Gefion marks a pivotal moment in Denmark’s technological evolution. By investing in sovereign AI infrastructure, the country is not only securing its place among the world’s technological leaders but also paving the way for innovations that could address some of humanity’s most urgent challenges. As Gefion begins its pilot phase, the world will be watching to see how this “factory of intelligence” reshapes industries and improves lives.
Originally Written by: scmartin
