The University of Ljubljana will play a key role in establishing the Slovenian Artificial Intelligence Factory
NTR inženiring/Arnes
Date of publication:
Slovenia has secured European funding for the establishment of a new supercomputer and the Slovenian Artificial Intelligence Factory. The supercomputer will be tailored for building and utilizing artificial intelligence models, while the AI factory will help Slovenian experts create an ecosystem that provides key services for the development and application of artificial intelligence in one place for businesses, research organizations, and the public sector. The University of Ljubljana will play a significant role in this initiative.
An essential component of the project is the establishment of the Slovenian Artificial Intelligence Factory (SLAIF), which will connect experts in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. The comprehensive solutions developed within SLAIF will be designed for businesses, research organizations, and the public sector. Among other things, SLAIF will offer education in AI and supercomputing, consulting, assistance with implementing developed solutions and building custom models, easy access to data, and user-friendly software tools. SLAIF will support all fields of science and industry, with a particular focus on the green transition through advanced technologies in agriculture, energy, and industry, digital transformation through the development of large language models and other services, medicine for faster disease detection and drug discovery, and science for developing advanced predictive models and new materials.
The Role of FRI in the Deployment and Utilization of Supercomputing Power
The University of Ljubljana, especially the Faculty of Computer and Information Science (FRI), which is one of the key centers for AI in Slovenia, will be deeply involved in the AI factory. Researchers from FRI are the largest users of the Vega supercomputer for artificial intelligence applications, making them well-equipped with the knowledge and experience to contribute to the development of the new system, both in terms of software and hardware. With a 40-year tradition of fostering artificial intelligence, they cover numerous key areas and will play a vital role in designing and conducting training and consultations for users with varying levels of prior knowledge. Furthermore, they will continue researching and developing new AI solutions.
The Faculty of Computer and Information Science has already taken the first steps to strengthen activities in this field, primarily through increased investment in its own infrastructure. This includes the establishment of a high-density hybrid data center, for which the faculty signed an agreement in January this year. Additional investments will follow. The data center and supercomputing equipment will play a crucial role until the new Slovenian supercomputer is operational. In the coming days—specifically on March 25, 2025, just one week after one of the largest AI developer conferences, NVIDIA GTC 2025—FRI will host NVIDIA AI Day, featuring representatives from NVIDIA.
Supercomputer Powered by Renewable Energy
The new Slovenian supercomputer, which will provide computing resources for the AI factory, is expected to be operational in early 2027, replacing the aging Vega supercomputer. It will be housed in a new Arnes data center at the Mariborski Otok hydroelectric power plant, ensuring direct energy supply from renewable sources. The supercomputer will consist of multiple nodes equipped with modern central processing units (CPUs), and for AI support, it will include numerous nodes with graphical processing units (GPUs) connected in a testbed environment. It will be capable of running various computationally intensive scientific simulations and building a wide range of AI models, as well as executing AI-driven solutions for end users.
Slovenia's application for the new supercomputer and AI factory was successful in the second call of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU). On March 12, 2025, EuroHPC JU announced that Slovenia was among the six selected proposals. The project will be funded jointly by EuroHPC JU, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation. The lead partner is IZUM, with additional partners including the University of Ljubljana, the Jožef Stefan Institute, the University of Maribor, the University of Nova Gorica, the University of Primorska, the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto, ARNES, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, and the Ljubljana Technology Park.
