In a survey involving 118 Latvian organisations from the academic, public and private sectors, 84% of respondents indicated that they plan to use high-performance computing (HPC) resources within the next seven years. At the same time, 66% of organisations have not yet allocated funding for this purpose, while 73% of respondents are not yet familiar with EU co-funding opportunities for HPC and artificial intelligence projects. Meanwhile, 35% of organisations are already actively seeking such opportunities, indicating a significant demand for information.
High-performance computing, or supercomputing, means that hundreds of interconnected computers work simultaneously on a single task. A calculation that would take several months on a conventional computer can be completed on a supercomputer in just a few hours or even minutes.
This makes it possible to train artificial intelligence models, forecast weather and climate change, test new drug compounds in computer simulations before laboratory testing, and model traffic and production processes. Such infrastructure is already available in Latvia, and the aim of the survey was to determine to what extent organisations plan to use it.
The survey was conducted by the Riga Technical University HPC Centre in cooperation with the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LETERA and LIKTA, and was distributed to approximately 1,500 recipients. Responses were received from representatives of the education, defence, energy, transport, healthcare, finance, manufacturing and IT sectors, as well as from municipalities.
Key Results
- 84% of respondents plan to use HPC resources within the next seven years. The main areas identified are artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data analytics, and large-scale data storage and archiving.
- 77% expect demand for HPC and artificial intelligence specialists within their organisation to increase by 2030; 50% indicate that they will need 1–2 additional specialists every two years, while a further 10% expect to need three or more.
- 66% acknowledge that a budget for HPC and artificial intelligence needs has not yet been allocated.
- 73% are unaware of European Union co-funding opportunities, although 35% of organisations are actively looking for opportunities to participate in such projects.
- More than 90% were able to define the minimum security requirements for outsourced HPC services. Respondents identified data security, ease of use, cost transparency, technical support and guaranteed availability as the most important quality aspects.
The results point to three key tasks: systematically developing HPC and artificial intelligence competences both in higher education and professional development; strengthening advisory mechanisms that help organisations attract international funding; and investing in infrastructure security and capacity by creating a standardised portfolio of services with predictable pricing.
Services and pricing are available on the RTU HPC Centre website at hpc.rtu.lv, with the application form available at hpc.rtu.lv/ka-sakt. Information about services provided by the University of Latvia is available at hpc.lu.lv, and applications can be submitted to hpc@lu.lv. A freely accessible HPC trial environment, or “sandbox”, and a public repository of use cases are also available.
The survey was conducted as part of the Recovery Fund project “Acquisition of Advanced Digital Skills in Latvia in the Field of High-Performance Computing Technologies”, implemented from 2 January 2023 to 30 June 2026 in cooperation between Latvia’s three leading universities – Riga Technical University, the University of Latvia and Rīga Stradiņš University. During the project, 12 study modules were developed, more than 2,000 students and professionals acquired advanced digital skills, and 31 academic staff members were trained to teach advanced digital skills.