There are moments in technology when the future arrives all at once—when years of vision, engineering, and partnership converge into something bigger than any single system. For Europe, that moment is the Alice Recoque Exascale supercomputer.
Today, France becomes home to the continent’s first AI Factory built upon exascale capability. And at the center of this milestone—supporting the data performance, intelligence, and scalability that make it possible—is DDN.
This is more than a supercomputer deployment. It’s the foundation of a new scientific and industrial era for Europe.
A Vision That Started Long Before the First Rack Was Installed
When we founded DDN nearly three decades ago, we believed data would become the engine of discovery. We envisioned a world where AI models and scientific simulations collaborated, mutually informing and accelerating each other.
What we are witnessing today in France is that vision realized.
Alice Recoque is not simply a machine; it is Europe’s first purpose-built AI Factory—designed to fuel breakthroughs in climate science, energy innovation, medicine, foundational AI models, and beyond. It is a collaboration powered by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, GENCI, CEA, SURF, GRNET, Eviden, AMD, and DDN. A European project built for European sovereignty.
And its success depends on one thing above all: data.
At exascale, data is not just a resource—it’s the throttle that determines whether GPUs sit idle or operate at full capacity. AI cannot learn, simulate, or infer faster than data can move. This is where DDN comes in.
The Role of Data Intelligence in the EXAScale Era
AI Factories demand infrastructure that can orchestrate data with precision, efficiency, and insight. The stakes are enormous:
- Distributed training that spans thousands of GPUs
- Climate simulations that model decades in hours
- Medical research that depends on real-time data fusion
- Foundational models requiring a trillion-parameter scale
These workloads are unforgiving. They expose every inefficiency, every bottleneck, every architectural weakness.
DDN’s data-intelligence platform was engineered for this scale long before it became mainstream. For Alice Recoque, our technology will deliver:
- Extreme parallel I/O for GPU-dense workloads
- Predictive data movement to minimize idle cycles
- Enterprise-grade reliability for national research
- Efficient data pathways to align with Europe’s aggressive energy-reduction goals
When the world talks about exascale performance, it often talks about compute. But what truly unlocks exascale value—what turns raw compute into scientific and industrial outcomes—is the ability to deliver data with speed, accuracy, and intelligence.
Alice Recoque is a perfect demonstration of that.
A European AI Factory Built for Sovereignty and Sustainability
Sovereign AI is no longer an abstract ideal—it is an operational requirement. Europe set out to build an AI and HPC infrastructure that is not only world-class but also controlled, trusted, and energy-responsible.
Alice Recoque represents that philosophy in action.
With European networking technologies, European processors, and European expertise integrated into a unified platform, this system reinforces autonomy in a geopolitical environment where data and compute have become strategic assets.
But sovereignty must be paired with sustainability. France and the EuroHPC have set some of the most aggressive energy-efficiency targets in the world. Alice Recoque pushes the boundaries, delivering:
- Up to 50% better GPU energy efficiency
- Direct warm-water cooling for 100% of rack components
- A 20% improvement in workload-level energy optimization
DDN’s role in this is crucial: efficient data systems reduce idle GPUs, shorten training cycles, and drive down power consumption at infrastructure scale.
In an AI era defined by both ambition and energy constraints, this matters.
A Collective Milestone—and a Preview of What Comes Next
As partners gathered in France for the announcement, it was clear that this is not just a deployment—it is the creation of a platform that will serve Europe for decades. One that will shape policy, research, industry, and global competitiveness.
For DDN, it is a privilege to stand alongside the EuroHPC JU, GENCI, CEA, SURF, GRNET, Eviden, AMD, SiPearl, and many others in delivering this milestone.
But it is also a moment of reflection.
DDN has supported many of the world’s most advanced supercomputers. We have powered hundreds of AI Factories and some of the largest AI training clusters ever built. Yet Alice Recoque stands apart—not only for its scale, but for what it symbolizes:
A unified European vision for AI and HPC. A commitment to responsible technological leadership. A belief that data intelligence can accelerate discovery for all.
The AI era demands infrastructure that is fast, open, sovereign, and sustainable. Europe has taken a bold step toward that future. And DDN is proud to help build the foundation.
The Future Starts Now
This is only the beginning. The innovations developed for Alice Recoque—across storage, data orchestration, energy efficiency, and AI-HPC convergence—will ripple across industries, research institutions, and national strategies.
But the story of Alice Recoque is ultimately a human one. Teams across Europe are choosing collaboration over competition, scientists and engineers imagining what’s possible, governments investing in shared capability, and partners like DDN making the data systems that bring the vision to life.
Europe now has an AI Factory unlike any in the world. And it has the data-intelligence foundation to drive discoveries we haven’t even imagined yet.
At DDN, we’re honored to be part of this historic moment. And we’re excited for what comes next. To view the news, please click here. Interact with us on social: LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.
