Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano)
Swiss national supercomputer cooled by deep water pumped from Lake Lugano, ranking among the world's fastest AI systems
The story
Operated by ETH Zurich at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre in Lugano, Alps went live in 2024 as Switzerland's research computing centerpiece. Featuring over 10,000 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper superchips on an HPE Cray EX fabric, Alps reached 270 petaflops. The facility's cooling plant draws 6°C water from 45 meters deep in Lake Lugano through a dedicated 2.8 km pipeline, cooling server racks with minimal energy consumption before returning the water safely to the lake. Alps handles numerical climate prediction for MeteoSwiss and trains Swiss open foundation AI models.
Notable
- Ranked among the top supercomputers globally in 2024, delivering over 270 petaflops Linpack performance.
- Built upon HPE Cray EX architecture powered by 10,752 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper superchips.
- Cooled by cold water pumped from a depth of 45 meters in Lake Lugano through a 2.8-kilometer pipeline.
- Serves as the computing backbone for MeteoSwiss weather forecasts and Switzerland's national AI initiative.
Expansions
- 2021: CSCS, ETH Zurich, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise announce Alps architecture
- 2023: deployment of 10,752 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper superchips completed
- 2024: Alps officially inaugurated reaching 270 petaflops sustained Linpack
Sources
- Alps Research Infrastructure System Overview · CSCS
- Alps, one of the world's fastest supercomputers, inaugurated · ETH Zurich · 2024-09-13
Part of the open famous data centers dataset (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-10-15. A correction? da@mustardseedmt.com
What is Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano) famous for?
Swiss national supercomputer cooled by deep water pumped from Lake Lugano, ranking among the world's fastest AI systems
Where is Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano)?
Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano) is in Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland (46.004, 8.951). It is operated by Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS).
How much power does Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano) use?
About 5.2 MW of IT load and 7.5 MW in total, according to the sources listed on this page.
What is the PUE of Alps Supercomputer (CSCS Lugano)?
1.1, reported.