On June 16, 2026, the University of Ljubljana officially unveiled Frida, a cutting-edge high-performance computing infrastructure purpose-built for artificial intelligence research. Housed on the rooftop of the university’s Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Frida marks a major milestone as the first academic AI-specialised supercomputing facility of its kind in the region.
Twice the Power, Twice the Efficiency
Frida delivers an impressive 1.42 exaflops of computing capacity paired with 16.8 terabytes of GPU memory, combining seven generations of graphics processors under one roof. According to the faculty, Frida achieves twice the AI training performance and energy efficiency of Slovenia’s existing supercomputer, Vega, while complementing rather than replacing it. Lead architect Iztok Lebar Bajec explained that Frida specialises in calculations crucial for artificial intelligence, while Vega remains highly effective for high-precision scientific calculations.
Data Sovereignty and Local Innovation
One of Frida’s standout features is its emphasis on data sovereignty. By enabling advanced AI models to run locally, Slovenian organisations can now process sensitive data without relying on foreign or commercial cloud providers — a critical advantage for government agencies, healthcare institutions, and businesses handling confidential information. The system will support projects ranging from Slovenian-language AI models and medical image analysis to climate modelling, industrial optimisation, speech recognition, and real-time translation technologies. It will also power the continued development of Gams, Slovenia’s domestic large language model, entirely within national borders.
Ljubljana’s Growing Tech Hub Status
Faculty Dean Mojca Ciglaric highlighted that Frida positions the university among leading global academic and technology institutions, expanding opportunities for international collaboration. The supercomputer is accessible to researchers, students, and industry partners alike. As Ljubljana cements its reputation as a Central European tech hub, the demand for community events like hackathons, developer meetups, AI conferences, and startup pitch nights continues to grow. Whether it is branded t-shirts for a campus hackathon, personalised hoodies for a research lab, or custom-printed merchandise for Slovenia’s next big tech conference, a thriving innovation scene always looks better in matching gear.
Frida also incorporates advanced direct-source cooling technology, reducing energy consumption by cooling hardware components directly rather than entire server rooms — an environmentally conscious design choice aligned with Slovenia’s broader sustainability goals.
With Frida now operational, Ljubljana’s faculty and students have a world-class platform to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence — and the city’s tech community has one more reason to celebrate.
Source: The Slovenia Times / STA