Article 13 Acquisition and ownership of industrial-grade EuroHPC supercomputers

The Joint Undertaking shall acquire, together with a consortium of private partners, at least mid-range supercomputers, or partitions of EuroHPC supercomputers, primarily destined for use by industry, and shall own them or co-own them with a consortium of private partners.

The Union financial contribution referred to in Article 5(1) shall cover up to 35 % of the acquisition costs of the EuroHPC supercomputers, or the partitions of the EuroHPC supercomputers. The remaining total cost of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputers, or the partitions of the EuroHPC supercomputers, shall be covered by the consortium of private partners.

The selection of the supplier of an industrial-grade EuroHPC supercomputer shall be based on tender specifications that shall take into account the user requirements and the general system specifications provided by the selected hosting entity in its application for the call for expression of interest. The selection shall also address the security of the supply chain.

The Governing Board may decide in the work programme, if duly justified for security reasons, to condition the participation of suppliers in the acquisition of the industrial grade EuroHPC supercomputers in accordance with Article 12(6) of Regulation (EU) 2021/694 or to limit the participation of suppliers for security reasons or actions directly related to the Union’s strategic autonomy, in accordance with Article 18(4) of that Regulation.

The EuroHPC supercomputers or the EuroHPC supercomputer partitions for industrial use shall be hosted in a hosting entity of a EuroHPC supercomputer.

Without prejudice to the winding up of the Joint Undertaking, as referred to in Article 23(4) of the Statutes, at the earliest four years after the successful acceptance test by the Joint Undertaking of the EuroHPC supercomputers installed in a hosting entity, the ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer may be transferred to the consortium of private partners, sold to another entity or decommissioned upon decision of the Governing Board and in accordance with the consortium of private partners. In the case of transfer of ownership of a EuroHPC supercomputer, the consortium of private partners shall reimburse the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the EuroHPC supercomputer that is transferred. If there is no transfer of ownership to the consortium of private partners but a decision for decommissioning, the relevant costs shall be covered by the consortium of private partners. The Joint Undertaking shall not be liable for any costs incurred after the transfer of ownership of the EuroHPC supercomputer or after its sale or decommissioning.