High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales, as the project is known, is being supported by £24m from the Welsh assembly government, including funding from the EU Convergence programmes, £10m from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and £6m from collaborating institutions and private-sector and research income.
The HPC institute will be based in two hubs at Cardiff and Swansea universities, with additional centres and support at Aberystwyth, Bangor, Glamorgan and the University of Wales.
The contract is worth £15m over four years to Fujitsu, which will provide infrastructure and services.
Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh assembly government’s deputy minister for science, innovation and skills, said it would open up a new era of commercially focused research across Wales, forging close collaborations between businesses and universities.
Announced in December 2009 by then Welsh secretary Peter Hain, the project was formally launched in July 2010 by the deputy first minister and minister for the economy and transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones.
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