University of Tartu High Performance Computing Centre: Building fully sovereign AI infrastructure
Estonia can't sit out the AI race. The goal isn't to "win," but to build competence across the stack-especially where commercial LLMs aren't an option. Healthcare, defence, and citizen services need models that respect legal boundaries and local context. That starts with sovereign infrastructure and a language model that truly understands Estonian.
At the Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, an open-source Estonian language model is being trained to speak more fluently and reflect local culture. The work runs on the University of Tartu HPC Centre (UTHPC) cluster, so data stays in-country and researchers keep control over methods, models, and IP.
Why this matters for science and public services
Many research groups and public-sector teams require absolute clarity on data jurisdiction, logging, and audit. They also need predictable costs and stable performance. A sovereign stack solves this, while keeping options open for collaboration and scale-outs to European resources.
UTHPC benefits from being inside a comprehensive research university-top 1.2% globally-so expertise spans core science through applied AI. Practitioners who run HPC and AI operations also teach, shortening the path from concept to production.
People first, then hardware
AI agents can accelerate work-if experts can verify and correct outputs. That raises the bar for skills, not lowers it. We expect demand for high-calibre IT and research engineers to keep growing alongside model capability.
Built and operated in Estonia
Scientific computing in Tartu started in 1959; the modern UTHPC Centre launched in 2008 with its first cluster, Aurumasin ("Steam Engine"). Since then, the service has expanded from compute cycles to support across the full research lifecycle-analysis, storage, and compliance.
In February 2026, local GPU capacity grew by roughly an order of magnitude. New resources include 12 NVIDIA H200, 24 NVIDIA B200, and 40 NVIDIA RTX Pro 6000 Blackwell Max-Q GPUs. The combined cloud, Kubernetes, and cluster environment now features 164 GPUs, 21,520 CPU threads, and 118 TB of system memory, plus 17+ PB usable storage and 30+ PB for archival workloads.
More important than the machines is the team: 50+ specialists who build, secure, and tune systems. They take part in cyber defence exercises and hackathons to strengthen resilience and test future AI workflows.
A national consortium for scale: ETAIS
To serve researchers across Estonia, the Estonian Scientific Computing Infrastructure (ETAIS) formed in 2011. Led by the University of Tartu with partners including Tallinn University of Technology, the Institute of Chemical and Biological Physics, and the Ministry of Education and Research, ETAIS provides HPC capacity, secure data management, user support, and expert consulting.
Core user communities include bioinformatics, medicine, data mining, language tech, chemistry, materials science, climate research, and physics. ETAIS is the official infrastructure provider for Estonia's R&D sector and supports AI services for the public sector.
Internationally, ETAIS connects to the EuroHPC LUMI supercomputer and the LUMI AI Factory, contributes to the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC), and develops the Puhuri resource management and portal system used across multiple countries. LUMI, inaugurated in 2022, remains among the world's top supercomputers, enabling advanced AI and data-intensive research at scale.
Sensitive data, handled correctly
The Estonian Biobank includes over 200,000 participants-around 20% of Estonia's adult population-forming a unique foundation for precision medicine research. Access happens only through UTHPC's Secure Sensitive Data Private Research Environment (SAPU).
SAPU provides a fully isolated environment with exception-free logging for traceability and audits. Researchers get controlled tools; data doesn't move.
Security you can verify
In 2025, UTHPC earned ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, covering all critical IT operations and services. The audit spanned data handling, risk management, and security controls across the service portfolio.
Security isn't a one-off. UTHPC maintains certification through recurring audits and ongoing improvements, keeping pace with new threats in both academic and commercial contexts.
From complex to usable: Waldur and the EuroHPC Federation Platform
Since 2016, UTHPC engineers have developed the Waldur portal to make accessing advanced resources feel as straightforward as online banking. Organisations can onboard users, track budgets, and improve utilisation of costly capacity.
Waldur is a core part of the EuroHPC Federation Platform (EFP), which integrates Europe's supercomputing and quantum resources into a single, secure, user-friendly ecosystem. Within CASTIEL 2 and the upcoming CASTIEL 3, the team is building a marketplace for services offered by EuroHPC Competence Centres.
Collaboration that compounds
Estonia's public sector has a track record of backing bold digital initiatives. The Tiger Leap program put computers in every school; the new AI Leap program helps thousands of teachers rethink education with AI, raise AI literacy, and test research-backed practices in classrooms.
This network-ministries, universities, and infrastructure teams-creates the momentum to deliver independent, safe, and effective AI capabilities across the country.
What this means for your research
- Train and deploy Estonian-language and domain models on local GPUs with clear legal and security terms.
- Keep sensitive data in-country; use SAPU for work that demands strict isolation and full audit trails.
- Scale up to continental resources via ETAIS and LUMI when your compute or storage peaks.
- Control access and spend with Waldur; integrate with Kubernetes and established HPC workflows.
- Work with specialists who can co-design pipelines, MLOps, and compliance from day one.
Further learning
For practical training ideas and examples that support research teams, see AI for Science & Research.
Get involved
To discuss access, security, or collaboration, contact the University of Tartu HPC Centre: info@hpc.ut.ee. Visit the website for service details and updates: hpc.ut.ee.
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