HLRS

What HLRS does

HLRS (Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart) is a German national high-performance computing center established in 1996 and affiliated with the University of Stuttgart, where it operates as a central unit of the university. It is one of three centers in the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing alongside JSC in Jülich and LRZ in Garching, and runs one of Europe's fastest supercomputers with associated AI, visualization, and quantum computing infrastructure. The center serves four primary user communities: the scientific research community (computational physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, climate, astrophysics, CFD, structural mechanics), industry and SMEs (product simulation, design optimization, manufacturing, AI/ML for product development), the public sector, and an emerging segment of AI-focused startups, SMEs, and researchers.

The technology stack centers on a multi-system supercomputing portfolio. The flagship production system is the HPE Cray EX4000 ("Hunter"), operational since February 2025 and delivering nearly twice the peak performance of its predecessor Hawk on an AMD APU architecture. The AI-optimized "HammerHAI" system (NVIDIA GB200 NVL4 by HPE, >15 Exaflops of AI inference), scheduled for Q2 2026 delivery, will integrate VAST Data DASE storage and Axelera AI inference accelerators. The next-generation "Herder" (HPE Cray GX5000) is expected in 2027. Additional systems include the NEC "Vulcan" cluster, the "Hawk AI Expansion" (HPE Apollo 6500 Gen10 Plus), the CAVE virtual reality visualization facility, and HPSS hierarchical storage.

HLRS is primarily funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF) and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research and Arts, with co-funding from EuroHPC JU, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, and the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. Compute time is free for eligible European academic users and contract-based for industry. Ancillary revenue comes from tiered professional training (the Supercomputing Academy, with fees ranging from €55 for students to €1,370 for industry participants) and from paid industry compute contracts. The center holds ISO 27001, TISAX Level 3, and EMAS certifications, and coordinates the HammerHAI AI Factory, Germany's first AI Factory under the EuroHPC JU AI Factories initiative, with an approximately €85M project budget.

Name

HLRS

Legal name

Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart (HLRS)

Website

https://hlrs.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart (HLRS) is a German national high-performance computing center affiliated with the University of Stuttgart and the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, providing supercomputing, AI, and visualization infrastructure to scientific researchers, industrial companies, and public sector organizations across Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

High-Performance Computing Services

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computer Training (611420)

SIC

Electronic Computers (3571), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

HPC Supercomputers & Turnkey Systems (HDACAOAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

GPU-Accelerated HPC Systems (HDACAOAC), HPC-as-a-Product / On-Prem Managed HPC (Integrated Hardware + Ops) (HDACAOAK), HPC / AI-Optimized Data Center Facilities (HDABACAJ), AI Memory & Storage for Training (HBM/DDR/SSD/Object Storage) (HDAAAAAF), HPC System Software & Resource Management (Schedulers, MPI, OS Images) (HDACAOAH)

Keywords

• High-performance computing
• Supercomputing infrastructure
• HPC user support
• Scientific simulation services
• AI compute services

Headquarters

HQ city

Stuttgart

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Primary funding from German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMBF) through the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, and the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research and Arts. Additional co-funding from Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, and Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture.
2. EuroHPC JU Co-Funding: European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) provides 50% co-funding for AI infrastructure such as HammerHAI, with budget from the Digital Europe Programme (DEP).
3. Industrial Computing Time Contracts: Companies access HPC resources through compute time contracts, supporting simulation, visualization, and data analysis for product development.
4. Training and Professional Education: Fee-based professional training courses in HPC and AI, including the Supercomputing Academy program, with tiered pricing for academic and industry participants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

HLRS operates one of Europe's fastest supercomputers and provides high-performance computing (HPC) platforms, AI compute infrastructure, data management, user support, and training services to scientific researchers, industry, and public-sector organizations. The center allocates computing time on systems such as Hunter, HammerHAI, Vulcan, and Hawk, complemented by visualization (CAVE), training (Supercomputing Academy), and consultancy (HPC Café) offerings.

Product overview

HLRS operates as a German national high-performance computing center offering world-class supercomputing infrastructure and services. The portfolio includes multiple supercomputing systems: Hunter (HPE Cray EX4000), HammerHAI (NVIDIA GB200 NVL4), Herder (HPE Cray GX5000), Vulcan (NEC Cluster), and Hawk AI Expansion. The HammerHAI AI Factory is a dedicated AI service platform providing AI-optimized supercomputing, expert support, and training for startups, SMEs, and research. Visualization is enabled through the CAVE facility, while HPSS provides data management. HLRS also offers comprehensive user support services and an extensive HPC training program with professional certification. The center is affiliated with the University of Stuttgart and the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HammerHAI: Germany's first AI Factory, providing secure, scalable AI resources for startups, SMEs, and scientific institutions, with a focus on industry, manufacturing, engineering, and research.
• Supercomputing Academy

Quantifiable outcome

• Hunter delivers nearly twice the peak performance of its predecessor Hawk.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)coreTechnology or Integration · 12 March 2026HPE was selected to build and deliver the HammerHAI supercomputer following a EuroHPC JU call for tender. HPE is manufacturing and installing the NVIDIA GB200 NVL4-based system. HPE also provided a pre-installation cluster at HLRS for code testing, and HPE specialists support HLRS user support staff and users during code porting workshops.
• NVIDIAcoreTechnology or Integration · 12 March 2026NVIDIA provides the GB200 NVL4 architecture (combining Grace CPUs with Blackwell GPUs) for the HammerHAI supercomputer, delivering over 15 Exaflops of AI inference performance. NVIDIA engineers serve as mentors in bootcamps and workshops. NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute (DLI) program provides training content.
• EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre), University of EdinburghcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2025EPCC leads the UK AI Factory Antenna (UKAIFA) with a €10 million budget over 3 years, in partnership with HammerHAI. HammerHAI will provide the UKAIFA user community access to its AI supercomputer, enable secure federated data sharing, and integrate UKAIFA into the EuroHPC AI Factory network. Builds on 20+ years of collaboration including the Fortissimo project series.
• Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024LRZ, a national HPC center within the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, is a partner in the HammerHAI AI Factory. LRZ focuses on user training, provisioning and maintenance of the AI Factory's core AI software environment, data management, and AI trustworthiness. Also collaborated on Multi-GPU Deep Learning training courses.
• Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung Göttingen (GWDG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024GWDG, a joint institution of the University of Göttingen and Max Planck Society, is a partner in HammerHAI. Building on expertise from hosting the KISSKI AI service center, GWDG interfaces with other national AI service centers and provides end-user analysis and solution architecture support.
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024KIT is a partner in HammerHAI, contributing more than 10 years of knowledge in data-driven innovation, trustworthy AI, and embedded AI for SMEs. KIT and HLRS collaborate in the KI Allianz BW, combining AI research expertise with HLRS infrastructure for the Baden-Württemberg data ecosystem.
• SICOS BWcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 December 2024SICOS BW was co-founded by HLRS and KIT to support SMEs in overcoming barriers to HPC and AI adoption. In HammerHAI, SICOS BW focuses on public relations, communication with users, and community building.
• AMDcoreTechnology or Integration · 14 May 2024AMD provides GPU technology for HLRS systems including the AMD Instinct GPUs in Hunter (APU-based) and the AMD ROCm ecosystem. AMD specialists participate in code porting workshops and hackathons, providing support alongside HLRS staff for porting codes to GPU-based systems.
• Austrian Scientific Computing (ASC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the European Agentic AI Bootcamp, together with LRZ, HLRS, Cyfronet, OpenACC organization, and NVIDIA.
• Academic Computer Centre Cyfronet AGHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the European Agentic AI Bootcamp alongside ASC, LRZ, HLRS, OpenACC, and NVIDIA.
• OpenACC OrganizationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the European Agentic AI Bootcamp, providing GPU programming expertise alongside other European HPC centers.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• CoreWeave: GPU-cloud provider delivering large-scale NVIDIA-accelerated compute for AI training and inference. Comparable as a high-end AI compute provider to researchers and enterprises, but as a commercial cloud rather than publicly funded center.

Direct peers

• Forschungszentrum Jülich / Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC): Sister German national HPC center within the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing. Directly comparable as a publicly funded tier-0 system provider serving academic and industrial users in Germany and Europe.
• CINECA: Italian national HPC consortium operating Leonardo, a EuroHPC pre-exascale system. Directly comparable as a publicly funded tier-0 European HPC center serving science, industry, and the public sector.
• Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC): Spain's national HPC center, host of the MareNostrum systems and one of the EuroHPC JU supercomputing hosts. Comparable as a European publicly funded national HPC provider with research and industry programs.
• Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ): Third Gauss Centre national HPC center (Garching near Munich) and HammerHAI AI Factory partner. Comparable as a publicly funded tier-0 HPC center serving science and industry in Germany and Europe.
• EPCC (Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre), University of Edinburgh: UK national HPC provider and leader of the UKAIFA AI Factory Antenna partnered with HLRS/HammerHAI. Comparable as an academic-affiliated national HPC center providing compute, training, and AI services.
• IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center (Czech Republic): Czech national HPC center hosting the Karolina EuroHPC system and co-organizer of the European Agentic AI Bootcamp with HLRS. Comparable European publicly funded HPC provider.
• CSC – IT Center for Science (Finland): Finnish national HPC center hosting the LUMI EuroHPC pre-exascale system. Comparable as a European government-funded HPC and AI infrastructure provider serving academic and industrial users.

Broad incumbents

• NVIDIA DGCloud / NVIDIA AI Factory Solutions: GPU vendor and turnkey AI Factory integrator (NVIDIA Blackwell systems + networking + AI Enterprise software). Comparable as a provider of reference architectures for AI-optimized supercomputing infrastructure, but on the for-profit commercial side.
• Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF): U.S. Department of Energy's premier leadership-class HPC facility operating Frontier. Comparable as a publicly funded exascale HPC center, though HLRS is roughly an order of magnitude smaller in scale and capex.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hlrs---high-performance-computing-center-stuttgart

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about HLRS