Construction of massive computer hits funding snag

A powerful supercomputer will not be ready by end-2024 or early 2025, as originally planned.

When finished, the “Daedalus” supercomputer will be installed at the National Technical University of Athens’ Lavrio Technological and Cultural Park, at a former power station. A few days ago, the Central Archeological Council gave the go-ahead for the restoration of the building.

What is missing is funding. Building and installing the computer will cost upwards of €40 million, 70% of which will come from the European Union’s Recovery Fund. The application for funds will be made this fall and building the computer will take two years.

Once finished, Daedalus will have a capacity of 30 petaflops, that is, 30 quadrillion (30 followed by 15 more zeros) floating-point operations per second. Universities, research centers and private companies will be able to use it.