HSE University to Launch New AI Supercomputer
HSE University is preparing to launch its second supercomputer. The new cluster will be primarily dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and will complement the existing cHARISMa supercomputer. It is scheduled to become operational by the end of 2026.
Since 2019, HSE University has operated the cHARISMa supercomputer. With the addition of the new system, the university will become one of the few higher education institutions in Russia to operate two supercomputers.
In December 2025, the cHARISMa supercomputing cluster underwent a scheduled upgrade. Improvements to its architecture and graphics subsystem increased its peak performance from 2.2 to 3.5 petaflops. Today, cHARISMa ranks 10th in the latest Top 50 Supercomputers of Russia list.
‘Demand for high-performance computing is growing faster than infrastructure upgrades, meaning that our current computing capacity is no longer sufficient. The launch of a second supercomputer will address several key challenges simultaneously. First, it will reduce the shortage of computing resources. Training today's state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models requires enormous computational power: a single large model can consume thousands of GPU hours. A second cluster will enable us to run more projects in parallel without queues or delays, accelerating research many times over. Second, it will give researchers and students access to infrastructure comparable with the most advanced industry standards. This means not only studying AI theory but also working with real-world models and large-scale datasets,’ said Andrey Sokolov, Senior Director at HSE University.
The new computing cluster will deliver peak performance of more than 360 AI petaflops FP4 (360 quadrillion operations per second). It is scheduled to be launched by the end of 2026.
Its primary purpose will be to train large language models (LLMs) and support AI technologies.
According to Alexey Naumov, Director of the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, the development of artificial intelligence represents a unique moment in human history, with transformative changes affecting every aspect of life at an unprecedented pace.
‘HSE University is one of the country's leading centres for developing new architectures and training methods for large foundation AI models, improving their performance and expanding their practical applications,’ said Alexey Naumov. ‘One of our key objectives is to contribute to the development of strong artificial intelligence capable of solving the most complex problems and creating value for society and business. The new supercomputer is an essential resource that will significantly expand our research and development capabilities in this field.’
HSE University works closely with leading technology companies and research organisations, bringing together top scientists and industry experts to achieve these goals and make a substantial contribution to the future of AI technologies. The university's partner in this project is Rostelecom, whose data centre will host the new supercomputer.
First Vice Rector of HSE University
‘As AI technologies become widely integrated into every sphere of life, including research and development and their use in education, the availability of a second supercomputer is becoming critically important for us. HSE University is a national leader in AI research and in training specialists with AI competencies. It is important not only to maintain this position but also to continuously expand the scale and effectiveness of our work in artificial intelligence.’
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