Flemish Supercomputer Center Publishes Annual Report 2025: A Year of New Power, Growing Demand, and Bold Ambition
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The VSC Annual Report 2025 is published today in Dutch. The English version will be available shortly.
As scientific research becomes increasingly data- and compute-intensive, access to advanced digital infrastructure has never been more important. From climate modeling and life sciences to engineering, artificial intelligence, and industrial innovation, researchers are tackling challenges that require unprecedented computing power and expertise.
Against this backdrop, 2025 marked another important year for the Flemish Supercomputer Center (VSC).
The newly published VSC Annual Report 2025 highlights a year of continued growth, strategic investments, and expanding impact across academia, industry, and government. It is a story of a community preparing for the future while continuing to support thousands of users today.
A New Chapter for Flemish Supercomputing
One of the most significant milestones of the year was the inauguration of sofia, VSC's new Tier-1 supercomputer.
Developed as part of the VSC 2.0 strategy, sofia represents the next generation of high-performance computing infrastructure in Flanders. The system combines advanced CPU and GPU technologies with a strong focus on energy efficiency, ensuring that researchers and innovators can continue to access world-class computing resources for years to come.
The arrival of sofia is more than a hardware upgrade. It reflects a long-term commitment to providing reliable, sustainable, and future-ready infrastructure that supports scientific excellence and technological innovation.
While sofia prepares for production use in 2026, the existing Tier-1 system Hortense continued to serve the research community throughout 2025, supporting a large portfolio of scientific and industrial projects despite a challenging year of maintenance and infrastructure upgrades.
Supporting a Growing Research Community
At its core, the VSC exists to enable research.
Every year, researchers across Flanders rely on VSC infrastructure to perform simulations, process massive datasets, train AI models, and accelerate scientific discovery. The report highlights continued demand for both Tier-1 and Tier-2 infrastructure, demonstrating the growing importance of advanced computing across all research disciplines.
Beyond providing infrastructure, the VSC combines computing resources with expert support, user training, and technical guidance. This integrated approach helps researchers transform computational challenges into scientific results.
The annual user survey once again confirmed strong appreciation for the quality of VSC services, infrastructure, and support.
Growing Impact Beyond Academia
The use of VSC services by companies and public organizations continued to expand in 2025.
Organizations increasingly turn to high-performance computing, data platforms, and cloud technologies to accelerate innovation, test new ideas, and solve complex technical problems. From engineering and manufacturing to AI-driven applications, advanced computing is becoming an essential tool for competitiveness and innovation.
Through dedicated support and accessible entry pathways, the VSC continues to lower barriers for organizations that are taking their first steps into high-performance computing while also supporting more advanced industrial users.
This growing engagement demonstrates that supercomputing is no longer limited to academic research. It is becoming an important driver of innovation throughout society.
Connecting Flanders to Europe
The VSC also plays a crucial role in connecting Flemish researchers to the broader European supercomputing ecosystem.
Through active support for access to EuroHPC resources, including LUMI, researchers in Flanders can benefit from some of the most powerful computing systems in Europe. This connection helps ensure that Flemish science remains competitive in an increasingly international research landscape.
In parallel, the VSC continued its participation in several European initiatives and collaborations focused on advanced computing, artificial intelligence, and next-generation digital infrastructure.
These partnerships strengthen the position of both the VSC and the Flemish research community within Europe's rapidly evolving HPC ecosystem.
Investing in Skills and Expertise
Infrastructure alone is not enough.
To fully unlock the potential of high-performance computing and AI, researchers need the knowledge and skills to use these technologies effectively.
Throughout 2025, the VSC continued to expand its training portfolio, offering courses, workshops, webinars, and specialized training sessions covering topics such as HPC, data science, software development, and artificial intelligence.
The growing participation in these activities reflects the increasing demand for computational skills across the research landscape. By combining training with expert support, the VSC helps researchers develop the expertise needed to make the most of advanced computing resources.
Building a Stronger Community
The VSC's mission extends beyond infrastructure and training. It is also about building connections.
In 2025, the VSC continued to strengthen its engagement with the research community through outreach activities, success stories, research showcases, digital communication channels, and community events such as VSC User Day.
These initiatives help demonstrate the real-world impact of supercomputing and highlight the diverse ways in which researchers, innovators, and organizations use advanced computing to create new knowledge and solve important challenges.
The continued growth of the VSC's online community and communication channels reflects the increasing visibility and relevance of HPC and AI across Flanders.
Looking Ahead
The publication of the VSC Annual Report 2025 comes at an exciting moment.
With sofia entering operation, continued investments in data and cloud services, growing industrial engagement, and stronger connections to European infrastructure, the foundations are in place for the next phase of growth.
As research continues to evolve and new challenges emerge, the need for advanced computing will only increase. The VSC remains committed to providing the infrastructure, expertise, and community needed to support researchers and innovators across Flanders.
The story of 2025 is ultimately one of preparation, growth, and ambition — ensuring that Flanders remains ready for the scientific and technological challenges of tomorrow.
Ready to harness the power of supercomputing for your research or innovation projects?
Whether you are a researcher, research group, company, or public organization, the VSC provides access to advanced computing infrastructure, expert support, training, and data services to help you tackle complex computational challenges.
Explore how to get started, request access, and discover the services available through the VSC:
👉 Visit the VSC website: www.vscentrum.be
Or learn more about:
Access to Tier-1 and Tier-2 infrastructure
Training and workshops
Data and cloud services
Support for businesses and innovation projects
European supercomputing opportunities through EuroHPC and LUMI
Together, we are building the computational foundation for research and innovation in Flanders.
Read the VSC Annual Report 2025 (Dutch version) today. The English version will be available soon.
