DKRZ
DKRZ is Germany's national climate computing center (GmbH, est. 1987, Hamburg) operating petascale supercomputers and a 250+ PB data archive for German and international climate and Earth-system researchers, funded by BMBF, Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society, and Hamburg.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1987
- HeadquartersHamburg, Germany
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What DKRZ does
DKRZ (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum GmbH) is the German national climate computing center, established in 1987 and headquartered at Bundesstraße 45a in Hamburg on the University of Hamburg campus near the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. It is structured as a private limited company (GmbH) owned by four institutional shareholders — the Max Planck Society, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (via the University of Hamburg), the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), and the Helmholtz Center Hereon — and is jointly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Helmholtz Association, the Max Planck Society, and Hamburg. Its mandate is to operate as a national service facility providing high-performance computing, large-scale data management, and scientific support to German and international climate and Earth-system researchers. Approximately 80 specialized staff deliver HPC operations, model-code optimization, data archiving, visualization, and increasingly AI/ML adaptation.
The center's technical core is a sequence of supercomputer generations: Blizzard (2009, 158 TeraFLOPS), Mistral (2015, ~3 PetaFLOPS, Atos/Bull), and the current Levante (HLRE-4, 2022, 14 PetaFLOPS, Atos BullSequana XH2000 with 2,832 AMD EPYC nodes, 800+ TB main memory, a 130 PB DDN storage system, and a 60-node NVIDIA A100 GPU partition). The compute stack is paired with a climate data archive exceeding 250 petabytes — among the world's largest — served via the Earth System Grid Federation and underpinning CMIP5/CMIP6 contributions to IPCC assessments. DKRZ co-developed the ICON climate and weather model (open-sourced in January 2024 with DWD, MPI-M, KIT, ETH Zurich, MeteoSchweiz) and the YAC coupling software, and since 2023 has hosted the WCRP Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO) International Project Office.
Commercially, DKRZ is not a market-facing entity: it provides compute allocations, data services, and consulting to academic and institutional users primarily through research-project and shareholder-channel allocations, with no public pricing. Revenue mechanics are dominated by multi-year government and Helmholtz/Max Planck funding, supplemented by major capital tranches for supercomputer procurement (€41M for Mistral; €45M for Levante). Distribution is "sales-led" only in the limited sense of institution-to-institution partnerships (MPI-M, DWD, ESGF nodes, WCRP); marketing reaches researchers through scientific publications, conferences (ISC, SC), press relations, a newsletter, LinkedIn/YouTube, and school outreach including the Monash Simple Climate Model web tool.
DKRZ firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- DKRZ
- Legal name
- Deutsche Klimarechenzentrum GmbH
- Website
- https://dkrz.de
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1987
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- DKRZ is Germany's national climate computing center (GmbH, est. 1987, Hamburg) operating petascale supercomputers and a 250+ PB data archive for German and international climate and Earth-system researchers, funded by BMBF, Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society, and Hamburg.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
DKRZ industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Climate Research High-Performance Computing Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Scientific Data Management & Data Platforms (SDMS/Data Lakehouse for R&D) (HLAGAJAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Document Management Systems (DMS) (HDAEAGAA)
Keywords
Where DKRZ is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hamburg
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
DKRZ business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations
Revenue model
- Government Research Funding: DKRZ is funded as a national service facility by federal ministries (BMBF), the Helmholtz Association, the Max Planck Society, and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Funding covers acquisition and operation of HPC systems, infrastructure, and staff.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Research institution access to HPC resources |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
DKRZ product offering
Product offeringCore offering
DKRZ provides high-performance computing platforms, large-scale data storage, and specialized scientific support services for climate and Earth system research. As Germany's national climate computing center, it offers petascale supercomputers (Levante HLRE-4 at 14 PetaFLOPS) with 130+ petabytes of storage, model code optimization, long-term data archiving, data publication and distribution via ESGF, AI/ML support, and visualization, serving climate researchers, weather services, and international collaborative projects such as CMIP/IPCC.
Product overview
DKRZ (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum) operates as a national service facility providing high-performance computing infrastructure for climate and Earth system research. The core offering centers on supercomputing systems (Levante, Mistral) offering petascale computing power combined with massive data storage (250+ PB archive). Supporting services include climate simulation execution, model code optimization, data management (archiving, distribution, publication), visualization, and AI/ML support. DKRZ co-developed the ICON climate modeling framework, now open source. Educational offerings include the Monash Simple Climate Model for teaching purposes.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Levante Supercomputer (HLRE-4) DKRZ's current flagship supercomputer, delivering petascale HPC capacity for high-resolution climate and Earth system simulations. Built on Atos BullSequana XH2000 technology with NVIDIA A100 GPU acceleration and InfiniBand HDR 200G interconnect, it serves climate researchers from German and international research institutions conducting CMIP-class and IPCC-relevant modeling work.
- Mistral Supercomputer (HLRE-3) Third-generation DKRZ supercomputer (HLRE-3), predecessor to Levante, delivered through Atos/Bull and operational from 2015 at 3 PetaFLOPS peak with 50 PB storage. Served as Germany's primary climate HPC platform during the CMIP6/IPCC AR6 era until superseded by Levante.
- Blizzard Supercomputer Second-generation DKRZ supercomputer, operational from 2009 at 158 TeraFLOPS. Predecessor to Mistral, used for IPCC-scale climate calculations during CMIP3 and the early CMIP5 era.
- Climate Data Archive (Datenarchiv) One of the world's largest dedicated climate data archives, managing over 250 petabytes of climate simulation data with long-term preservation, publication, and global distribution via the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). Supports CMIP3, CMIP5, and CMIP6 dataset hosting for IPCC AR4, AR5, and AR6 assessments.
- Compute Time Provisioning (CPUtime) Core service providing research institutions with allocated compute time on DKRZ's supercomputers. Access is granted through project allocations, consortium computing (Konsortialrechnungen), and institutional affiliations with Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association, University of Hamburg, and German/international climate research institutions.
- Long-Term Data Archiving (Langzeitarchivierung) Managed long-term archiving service for climate research data, ensuring preservation and retrievability of simulation outputs across multiple decades. Underpins DKRZ's role as a primary CMIP data node and contributor to IPCC assessment data workflows.
- Data Publication and Distribution Services covering the publication, provisioning, and global distribution of climate research data via the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF), making CMIP-class and other climate datasets available to researchers worldwide for IPCC assessments and other international collaborations.
- Scientific Consulting and Model Code Optimization Specialized consulting and code-optimization services for climate model developers, including parallelization, performance tuning, and adaptation of model code for DKRZ's supercomputer architectures. Supports researchers working with ICON and other climate and Earth system models.
- Scientific Visualization Services Data visualization services for climate research and public communication, including the Klimaglobus (climate globe) and other visual representations of climate simulation results. Serves both research users and science-communication/outreach purposes.
- AI / Machine Learning Services Support for AI and machine learning workflows in climate research, including adaptation of ML pipelines for heterogeneous CPU/GPU hardware architectures on Levante and integration of AI methods into climate modeling.
- ICON Model System Open-source climate and weather modeling framework (ICON) covering atmosphere, ocean (ICON-O), land biosphere, hydrology, marine biogeochemistry, and atmospheric chemistry (ICON-ART), co-developed by DKRZ with DWD, MPI-M, KIT, MeteoSchweiz, and ETH Zurich. Published under open source license for weather forecasting and Earth system research.
- Monash Simple Climate Model (MSCM) Web Interface Web-based interactive simplified climate model (MSCM) hosted by DKRZ, based on the GREB global energy balance model, allowing interactive experimentation with over 1,000 precomputed climate experiments. Aimed at students, teachers, and researchers studying climate dynamics on standard PCs.
Quantifiable outcome
- 5.5x general data reduction and up to 20x for software development environments through VAST AI Operating System
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use DKRZ
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
DKRZ technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
DKRZ partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- VAST DatacoreVAST Data deployed its AI Operating System at DKRZ to modernize the high-performance computing environment for climate research. The deployment has achieved approximately 5.5x general data reduction and up to 20x or more for software development environments, enabling more usable capacity without adding hardware.
- German Meteorological Service (DWD)coreDWD collaborated with MPI-M and DKRZ to develop ICON as an atmospheric and weather forecasting model, now used operationally in Germany and Switzerland. DWD and MPI-M initially developed ICON jointly.
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M)coreMPI-M is a key co-developer of the ICON model system and primary research user of DKRZ HPC systems. Together with DKRZ, MPI-M developed the YAC coupling software component and GPU-efficient ICON versions.
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)coreKIT developed the ICON-ART component for aerosols and atmospheric chemistry modeling, contributing to the open-source ICON ecosystem. KIT also supports DKRZ's research software engineering efforts for GPU-based HPC systems.
- ETH Zurich / C2SM (Center for Climate Systems Modeling)coreETH Zurich and MeteoSwiss partner through C2SM to develop GPU-efficient ICON versions and collaborate on climate modeling infrastructure with DKRZ and MPI-M.
- MeteoSchweiz (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology)coreSwiss national weather service co-develops ICON model and collaborates through C2SM with ETH Zurich and DKRZ for efficient climate and weather modeling on supercomputers.
- World Climate Research Program (WCRP) - ESMOcoreWCRP opened its Earth System Modelling and Observations (ESMO) International Project Office at DKRZ on May 1, 2023, to coordinate global climate modeling, data assimilation, and observation activities. The office is under leadership of the ESMO Scientific Steering Group with oversight from the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee.
- NVIDIAcoreNVIDIA provides A100 graphics processing units (GPUs) for Levante's GPU partition, with 60 GPU nodes delivering 2.8 PetaFLOPS peak performance for AI-assisted climate workflows and accelerated computing.
- DDN (Data Direct Networks)coreDDN provided the 130 Petabyte storage system for the Levante supercomputer, more than doubling the previous storage capacity to support large-scale climate simulation data storage and analysis.
- Atos (Bull)coreAtos (through its Bull brand) delivered the Levante supercomputer (HLRE-4) based on BullSequana XH2000 technology, increasing computing power by a factor of 5 compared to the predecessor Mistral. The five-year contract covers delivery, service, and support of the supercomputer system.
- Atos (Bull)coreBull (now Atos) delivered the Mistral supercomputer (HLRE-3), one of the most powerful and energy-efficient supercomputers for climate simulations worldwide, 20 times faster than its predecessor, with 3 PetaFLOPS peak performance.
- IBMcoreIBM provides data analytics technology and High Performance Storage System (HPSS) software to manage DKRZ's climate simulation data archive, supporting up to 500 Petabytes of climate data as one of the world's largest climate data archives.
- Seagate (Xyratex)coreSeagate (through Xyratex) provides ClusterStor storage solutions for DKRZ's large-scale data archive, enabling 45 Petabyte storage capacity with high energy efficiency and throughput for climate data management.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves12 records
Expansion highlights5 records
DKRZ competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research): NCAR operates the U.S. equivalent of DKRZ — a national center providing supercomputing, data archival, and model support for atmospheric and climate research — including the Cheyenne/Peregrine systems and the CESM/Community Earth System Model. Most directly comparable peer in mission, scale, and funding model.
- Pawsey Supercomputing Centre (Australia): Pawsey is Australia's national HPC facility serving astronomy, climate, and other research domains with Setonix (HPE Cray EX) infrastructure. Comparable as a publicly funded national HPC center for academic research with climate-relevant workloads, scaled smaller than DKRZ but analogous in mission.
- ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts): ECMWF is the European intergovernmental weather/climate modeling center operating petaflop-scale supercomputers in Bologna and Bonn for IFS model runs and Copernicus data. Directly comparable as a mission-aligned, internationally funded HPC center serving weather and climate science, with overlapping partners (DWD, MPI-M).
- UK Met Office (and Met Office Hadley Centre): The UK Met Office runs its own climate and weather modeling HPC (Cray/ HPE systems) and produces the Hadley Centre climate models — directly comparable to DKRZ as a government-backed weather/climate computing center, although it is also a forecasting agency rather than a pure HPC service provider.
- MeteoSwiss (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology): MeteoSwiss is a co-developer of the ICON model (the same model DKRZ helps operate) and runs operational weather forecasting and climate research on its own HPC. Comparable in domain and a direct ICON collaboration partner.
- Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC): BSC operates the MareNostrum supercomputers for the Spanish and European research community, including major climate and earth-system modeling workloads. Directly comparable as a publicly funded national supercomputing center with a domain focus on earth sciences.
- SNIC / PDC (Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing / PDC Center for High Performance Computing): PDC, hosted by KTH, operates Sweden's national HPC infrastructure for academic climate and engineering research as part of SNIC. Comparable to DKRZ as a national-scale HPC center serving university and institutional users with government funding.
- CINECA (Italian Computing Consortium): CINECA is Italy's national HPC facility operating Leonardo (one of the world's top supercomputers) for academic and institutional users across Europe. Comparable as a publicly funded national HPC center providing large-scale compute and data services to research consortia.
- CSC (IT Center for Science, Finland): CSC operates Finland's national HPC and data management infrastructure (LUMI supercomputer, Allas storage) for academic and climate researchers, with a comparable funding/governance model (state + research council ownership) and similar service portfolio. Closest European national-HPC analogue.
Regional players
- Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC): JSC operates JUWELS and other Helmholtz Association supercomputers in Germany — a regional peer within the same funding ecosystem (Helmholtz) as DKRZ. Comparable in service offering but with broader cross-disciplinary scope rather than a climate focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat7 records
Key risks12 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
DKRZ social profiles
Digital presenceDKRZ financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
DKRZ leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
DKRZ funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
DKRZ M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about DKRZ
What does DKRZ do?
DKRZ provides high-performance computing platforms, large-scale data storage, and specialized scientific support services for climate and Earth system research. As Germany's national climate computing center, it offers petascale supercomputers (Levante HLRE-4 at 14 PetaFLOPS) with 130+ petabytes of storage, model code optimization, long-term data archiving, data publication and distribution via ESGF, AI/ML support, and visualization, serving climate researchers, weather services, and international collaborative projects such as CMIP/IPCC.
Is DKRZ a public or private company?
DKRZ is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was DKRZ founded?
DKRZ was founded in 1987. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is DKRZ based?
DKRZ is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does DKRZ make money?
One revenue line is on record: government Research Funding.
Who are DKRZ's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Pawsey Supercomputing Centre (Australia), ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts), UK Met Office (and Met Office Hadley Centre), MeteoSwiss (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology), Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), SNIC / PDC (Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing / PDC Center for High Performance Computing), CINECA (Italian Computing Consortium) and CSC (IT Center for Science, Finland). Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) is listed as a regional player.
Does DKRZ have an API?
No public API is recorded for DKRZ.
What industry is DKRZ in?
DKRZ's product category is Climate Research High-Performance Computing Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAJAC, Scientific Data Management & Data Platforms (SDMS/Data Lakehouse for R&D), with a secondary code of HDAEAGAA, Document Management Systems (DMS). Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7374.