{
  "id": 2407946,
  "title": "Brazil to get its own AI supercomputer",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/brazil-to-get-its-own-ai-supercomputer",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-21T14:38:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Agencia Brasil",
    "slug": "agencia-brasil",
    "url": "https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/economia/noticia/2026-08/brazil-get-its-own-ai-supercomputer"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, Brazil, has been selected to host a new artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer funded by the Brazilian government for over BRL 1 billion. The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation revealed that these funds will come from the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT). The infrastructure is projected to achieve a processing capacity of 7,200 petaflops, or around 7.2 quintillion calculations per second. This is more than three times the power of Brazil's current top supercomputer, Santos Dumont, which operates at 27 petaflops.\n\nThe supercomputer will be accessible to companies, universities, research institutions, and government agencies for model training, research, and AI application development. It aims to reduce Brazil's dependence on foreign AI processing and create opportunities for research, innovation, and new business opportunities. According to the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Luciana Santos, the supercomputer will be among the ten most powerful globally. The initiative is part of the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Plan, which seeks to enhance the country's technological infrastructure, train professionals, facilitate technology transfer, and strengthen digital sovereignty.\n\nThe project will be carried out by the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC). President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva emphasized that the initiative will prove that Brazilian academics and young people are among the best in the world, provided they are given the opportunity. The choice of the Northeast region for this project is aimed at reducing regional inequalities in the technology sector and leveraging Rio Grande do Norte's abundant renewable energy resources, which is the leading state in wind energy production.\n\nAnother initiative involves the development of open-source chips based on the RISC-V architecture to reduce dependence on proprietary designs. This effort, led by the Eldorado Institute in Campinas, São Paulo, in collaboration with Barcelona's innovation ecosystem in Spain, is expected to take 10 to 15 years to complete. Additionally, the National Education and Research Network (RNP) in Rio de Janeiro will work with Chinese companies Huawei and iFlytek to expand processing capacity through technology transfer, research and development partnerships, professional training, and the creation of a sovereign software stack. Plans also include the development of a national large language model and AI models in Portuguese, which will enable the creation of solutions tailored to Brazil's language, data, and needs. The Brazilian government invested BRL 1.276 billion over five years in these projects, with operations set to begin in July 2027.",
  "summary": "The Augusto Severo Science and Technology Park, affiliated with the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, the state capital, has been chosen to house the new artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer that the Brazilian government will acquire for just over BRL 1 billion. According to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, the funds will be drawn from the National Fund…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}