Bull, a French company specializing in high-performance computing, officially opened a new production building at its supercomputer factory in Angers on Friday, October 2, 2020. The 80 million euro project expands the facility’s capacity and allows it to work with manufacturers such as Foxconn, a major electronics producer. The factory, which is the only one of its kind in Europe, was originally built in 1962 and has remained in the same location since its inauguration in 1963. The new building, covering 20,000 square meters with 10,700 square meters devoted to production, was constructed without interrupting the factory’s ongoing operations. The reconstruction, managed by the local public company Alter Cités, will be fully completed by 2028 and will include a logistics platform and an office campus. The new facility is designed with advanced engineering, including a floor capable of supporting 4 tons per square meter and a hidden technical floor specifically for housing supercomputers. The building follows the principles of industry 5.0, which emphasizes sustainability, innovation, and human-centric production. It also features a patented water-cooling system that minimizes noise and heat waste. The heat generated by the machines will be used to warm several hundred homes in Angers, with a goal of providing 5 gigawatt-hours of energy per year. The site relies on renewable energy sources, including 3,500 solar panels that can generate up to 1,500 kilowatts of power under full sunlight. Bull announced that the expansion will double the factory’s production capacity, increase productivity by 30% with the same number of employees, and reduce building maintenance costs by the same percentage. The facility will play a key role in the production of Alice Recoque, a future exascale supercomputer that will be hosted in France, and LUMI-AI, a supercomputer dedicated to artificial intelligence with a value of 387.8 million euros. LUMI-AI was ordered by EuroHPC and the LUMI AI Factory consortium for Finland. The project received nearly 3 million euros in public funding, including support from the Green Fund, ADEME, and the Region Pays de la Loire. Bull, which was acquired by the French state for a value that could reach 404 million euros, has launched an "Open Factory" initiative to allow AI and advanced computing manufacturers to use its production lines. Foxconn, the first partner, will design and manufacture AI servers based on the NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 platform at the site. This collaboration highlights the growing importance of France’s role in the global development of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence technologies.