The collaboration between the AI cloud provider and the datacenter operator will position Luxembourg as a central hub for AI innovation in Europe and worldwide, Paul Konsbruck and André Reitenbach say.
On 19 October, Gcore a Luxembourg-based AI cloud provider, announced the launch of its Gcore Generative AI Cluster, which will be hosted in LuxConnect’s datacenter in Luxembourg.
Paul Konsbruck, CEO of LuxConnect and Andre Reitenbach, CEO of Gcore, explain why the Generative AI Cluster will accelerate the development of generative AI models and make cutting-edge research facilities accessible to startups and enterprises.
“A large portion of the world’s AI resources are concentrated in the US, Europe requires its own advanced network to tackle complex tech challenges […]”
Andre Reitenbach, CEO of Gcore
What is the cooperation of LuxConnect and Gcore about?
Paul Konsbruck (P.K.): For over 17 years, LuxConnect operates datacenter facilities and provides cutting-edge technology, customer-oriented services, robust security measures, and reliable infrastructure.
Indeed, we understand the critical importance of data management and strive to meet the evolving needs of clients such as Gcore in today’s digital landscape.
It is very important to stress that this is the very core of our mission. As a 100% state owned company, we also want to be a front runner when it comes to ICT and now to AI solutions.
Andre Reitenbach (A.R.): In 2014, we established our initial servers at the European Data Hub in Cloche d’Or. Recently, we expanded our operations to LuxConnect in Bettembourg, taking over what was previously the Microsoft space.
Currently, we have around 2,500 servers running in Luxembourg. At LuxConnect, we’re equipped with the latest Nvidia cards (H100 and A100), enabling us to establish the content distribution node for “generative AI” in Europe.
This partnership is a continuation of Luxembourg’s long history of sharing content across Europe. Starting with RTL radio in 1929, Luxembourg began to play a big role in broadcasting audio content far and wide.
In the 1950s, this expanded to include television, making Luxembourg an important place for sharing both sound and video content.
In the 1980s, with the help of the Luxembourg government, a company called SES started operating satellites from Luxembourg, helping to send TV channels and other communications across Europe.
When the internet started to become widespread in the 2000s, Luxembourg was once again at the forefront, helping to build the infrastructure that made it all work.
Now we have Gcore, a company based in Luxembourg with a state-of-the-art infrastructure that offers exceptional GenAI capabilities for Europe and beyond.
This shows that Luxembourg is still a key player when it comes to sharing media and technology, continuing a tradition that has been going on for nearly 100 years.
On one side, this partnership helps make Luxembourg more noticeable in the technology field and gives our country an advantage over other places in Europe. Luxembourg is known for being trustworthy, which helps create trust across Europe.
On the other side, this cooperation, made right here in Luxembourg, is very beneficial for Europe’s work in AI, showing that Luxembourg is dedicated to supporting and being a reliable friend in Europe.
How does Gcore help LuxConnect in its strategy, vision and missions?
A.R.: Gcore is a leading European company providing essential tools and services for artificial intelligence (AI) globally and has established itself as a significant IT service provider in Europe.
However, as a large portion of the world’s AI resources are concentrated in the US, Europe requires its own advanced network to tackle complex tech challenges, foster successful AI initiatives, and aid European companies in developing their AI models and establishing strong collaborative networks.
In this context, Gcore’s innovations in AI are transforming the European landscape. With the initiation of its Generative AI Cluster, Luxembourg is emerging as a central hub for AI innovation, conducted locally on LuxConnect’s cutting-edge infrastructure.
“The rapid growth in data production driven by artificial intelligence is also changing the way data is stored, processed, and transmitted […]”
Paul Konsbruck, CEO of LuxConnect
This underscores a productive partnership between LuxConnect and various enterprises, with LuxConnect offering the necessary resources for companies to thrive and expand beyond Luxembourg’s borders, across Europe, and potentially worldwide.
Importantly, this partnership also emphasizes adherence to European ethical values and compliance with GDPR in AI applications. Gcore’s commitment to these standards ensures that AI development and deployment are conducted with the utmost respect for privacy, transparency, and fairness, aligning with Europe’s vision for a digital future that is secure and ethically sound.
How can LuxConnect meet the demand generated by AI?
P.K.: AI is significantly influencing the way we work. And the trend is increasing. The rapid growth in data production driven by artificial intelligence is also changing the way data is stored, processed, and transmitted, while increasing the demand for computing power in datacentres like LuxConnect.
Therefore, in order to meet the demand generated by AI, LuxConnect is constantly evolving the design and infrastructure of its facilities.
And by housing specialized hardware such as GPUs and TPUs, datacenters accelerate complex computations to support AI applications and workloads.
A.R.: More concretely, AI needs the use of a specialized IP, especially if we use NVIDIA GPUs. And in order to be efficient, this needs to be packed in a rack with 60 kilowatt per rack and more. For the moment, LuxConnect is the only player in Luxembourg to provide such capabilities.
How do you see the evolution of artificial intelligence in the future?
A.R.: AI is rapidly becoming the driver of modern technologies in various industries and tasks including optimization, predictive maintenance, virtual assistance, fraud and anomaly detection.
But the success of such applications depends on the availability of big data. This leads to an increasing need for datacenters to store and process this information.
With the advance of artificial intelligence, the demand for data processing capacity will triple. But LuxConnect can meet this demand by offering high quality services.
Since ChatGPT, the world is changing very fast and we need to be fast. It is a fast-emerging trend, and we need to react accordingly. Thus, LuxConnect is the best place to build the needed performance and capacities and to run these in Luxembourg, with the aim to make sure that our country remains competitive across the globe especially in Europe.
What is LuxConnect’s current vision on AI?
P.K.: We are taking part in the European AI Strategy, which aims at making the EU a world-class hub for AI and at ensuring that artificial intelligence is human-centric and trustworthy. The EU approach to artificial intelligence centers on excellence and trust and aims to boost research and industrial capacity.
In the future we want to be more visible in Luxembourg and help the country to be part of the AI journey.
We are also open to partnerships with the government, the public sector, universities and local players. Our objective is to provide them with capacity, which are currently quite rare, and to bring big businesses to Luxembourg.
We are therefore absolutely convinced that artificial intelligence will be one of the most important topics on the agenda of the newly elected government.
Soon, the public sector will implement AI in many of its attributions. And we think that in five years from now there will be many possibilities for citizens and companies to communicate via AI solutions, and to fulfill all kinds of procedures faster, more precisely and more efficiently. This is already on the agenda, and it is happening right now.
