Science & Tech · Space · 16 hrs ago
Finland offers South African researchers access to Lumi supercomputer
Finland has offered South African researchers access to Lumi, a powerful supercomputer based in Kajaani.
The offer was made at a dialogue in Pretoria as the two countries discussed cooperation on artificial intelligence.
They do not yet have a formal AI research agreement, and the meeting was intended to lay the groundwork for one.
South African researchers cannot apply for Lumi computing time on their own; they need to partner with a researcher based in the EU or a country associated with its research programmes.
Lumi is about 95 times as powerful as the 4-petaflop computer being installed to replace South Africa’s Lengau system, which could give researchers access to much greater computing capacity.
Finland also offered training and researcher exchanges, and South Africa’s government said it was willing to contribute funding to cooperation, including doctoral training.
A Lumi AI Factory is planned next, but no timeline or South African role in it was given.
Finland has offered South African researchers access to Lumi, one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers.
The offer was made at a South Africa-Finland dialogue on artificial intelligence in Pretoria.
The countries have no formal AI research agreement, and the dialogue aims to lay the foundation for one.
Finland’s CSC will also offer training, exchanges and access to Finnish AI expertise.
South African researchers cannot apply for Lumi computing time independently and must partner with eligible European groups.
- Who
- Finland, through CSC – IT Centre for Science, offered support to South African researchers.
- What
- The offer includes help gaining access to the Lumi supercomputer, as well as training, exchanges and AI expertise.
- When
- At a dialogue held on Thursday; the article was published on 29 October 2026.
- Where
- At the National Research Foundation in Pretoria, South Africa.
- Why
- The countries aim to build a formal AI research partnership; no formal agreement exists yet.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
President Cyril Ramaphosa called for a Presidential PhD Programme, with an initial R1-billion for doctoral training at home and abroad.
A South Africa-Finland dialogue on AI was held at the National Research Foundation in Pretoria, where Finland offered help with access to Lumi.
- Supercomputer
- Lumi, located in Kajaani, eastern Finland
- GPU count
- 11,912 AMD Instinct MI250X GPUs
- Performance
- 379.7 petaflops sustained on the Linpack benchmark
- South African access
- Researchers cannot apply for Lumi time independently
- Dialogue venue
- National Research Foundation, Pretoria
What people are saying
but there is no formal collaboration agreement yet. This dialogue is to set the foundation for that.
Everybody gets some share of a machine they could not have afforded alone.