Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced an expanded
collaboration with HPE to accelerate the next generation of open, scalable AI infrastructure built
on AMD leadership compute technologies. HPE will become one of the first system providers to
adopt the AMD “Helios” rack-scale AI architecture, which will integrate a purpose-built HPE
Juniper Networking scale-up switch – in collaboration with Broadcom – and software for
seamless, high-bandwidth connectivity over Ethernet.
“Helios” combines AMD EPYC™ CPUs, AMD Instinct™ GPUs, AMD Pensando™ advanced
networking and the AMD ROCm™ open software stack to deliver a cohesive platform optimized
for performance, efficiency, and scalability. The system is engineered to simplify deployment of
large-scale AI clusters, enabling faster time to solution and greater infrastructure flexibility
across research, cloud, and enterprise environments.
“HPE has been an exceptional long-term partner to AMD, working with us to redefine what is
possible in high-performance computing,” said Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD. “With ‘Helios’,
we’re taking that collaboration further, bringing together the full stack of AMD compute
technologies and HPE’s system innovation to deliver an open, rack-scale AI platform that drives
new levels of efficiency, scalability, and breakthrough performance for our customers in the AI
era.”
“For more than a decade, HPE and AMD have pushed the boundaries of supercomputing,
delivering multiple exascale-class systems and championing open standards that accelerate
innovation,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO at HPE. “With the introduction of the new
AMD ‘Helios’ and our purpose-built HPE scale-up networking solution, we are providing our
cloud service provider customers with faster deployments, greater flexibility, and reduced risk in
how they scale AI computing in their businesses.”
Advancing the Next Era of Industry Standard AI Infrastructure
The AMD “Helios” rack-scale AI platform delivers up to 2.9 exaFLOPS of FP4 performance per
rack using AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs, next-generation AMD EPYC “Venice” CPUs and AMD
Pensando Vulcano NICs for scale-out networking, all unified through the open ROCm software
ecosystem that enables flexibility and innovation across AI and HPC workloads.
Built on the OCP Open Rack Wide design, “Helios” can help customers and partners streamline
deployment timelines and deliver a scalable, flexible solution for demanding AI workloads.
This has enabled HPE to integrate differentiated technologies for their customers, specifically a
scale-up Ethernet switch and software designed for “Helios.” Developed in collaboration with
Broadcom, the switch delivers optimized performance for AI workloads using the Ultra
Accelerator Link over Ethernet (UALoE) standard, reinforcing the AMD commitment to open,
standards-based technologies.
HPE will offer the AMD “Helios” AI Rack-Scale Architecture worldwide in 2026.
Powering Europe’s Next Generation of HPC and AI Innovation
Herder, a new supercomputer for the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) in
Germany, is powered by AMD Instinct™ MI430X GPUs and next-generation AMD EPYC™
“Venice” CPUs. Built on the HPE Cray Supercomputing GX5000 platform, Herder will offer
world-class performance and efficiency for HPC and AI workloads at scale. The combination of
the AMD leadership compute portfolio with HPE’s proven system design will create a powerful
new tool for sovereign scientific discovery and industrial innovation for European researchers
and enterprises.
The pairing of AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and EPYC processors within HPE’s GX5000
platform is a perfect solution for us at HLRS; said Prof. Dr. Michael Resch, Director of HLRS.
Our scientific user community requires that we continue to support traditional applications of
HPC for numerical simulation. At the same time, we are seeing growing interest in machine
learning and artificial intelligence. Herder’s system architecture will enable us to support both of
these approaches, while also giving our users the ability to develop and benefit from new kinds
of hybrid HPC/AI workflows. This platform will not only make it possible for our users to run
larger, more powerful simulations that lead to exciting scientific discoveries, but also to develop
more efficient computational methods that are only feasible with the capabilities that such next-
generation hardware offers.
Delivery of Herder is scheduled for the second half of 2027 and it is expected to go into service
by the end of 2027. Herder will replace HLRS’s current flagship supercomputer, called Hunter.
