The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) announced today that Fir, the new supercomputer at the Cedar Supercomputing Centre, is now fully operational and serving Canadian researchers nationwide. This milestone is a key part of a national investment strategy led by the Alliance to ensure Canada's research community has the cutting-edge digital infrastructure needed to drive discovery and innovation.
“With Fir now fully operational, Canadian researchers have access to one of the most advanced computing tools in the world. By growing our advanced research computing capacity, we are strengthening our ability to drive breakthrough discoveries and innovation, empowering our brightest minds and ensuring Canada remains a leader in research that benefits all Canadians.”
- The Honourable Minister Mélanie Joly, Minister of Innovation and Minister Responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
The launch of Fir follows a June 2024 funding announcement to upgrade the advanced research compute infrastructure at SFU. The combined investment includes $40,946,000 from the Alliance and $24,567,600 from the Province of British Columbia, through the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF). This investment is part of a broader, Alliance-led initiative to replace the distributed national system across the country, building a strong, sovereign research infrastructure for Canada.
“Investments in advanced research computing represent more than just technological advancement – it embodies Canada's commitment to research excellence and innovation. By providing researchers with world-class computing resources, the Alliance ensures that Canadian research continues to drive knowledge creation, economic growth and social impact both nationally and globally.”
- George Ross, CEO of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada
The Alliance’s strategic infrastructure investments are critical for providing Canadian researchers with the cutting-edge tools that are essential for groundbreaking discoveries across all disciplines, from AI and life sciences to environmental studies and the humanities. This investment in a distributed, national system of advanced research computing capabilities is foundational to Canada's ability to maintain its competitive edge and data sovereignty. It was made possible by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Strategy and approved DRI funding for 2023–25.
“The new Fir supercomputer represents a much needed, major upgrade to the national Canadian computing infrastructure. The growing importance of data for research in all types of academia and in industry continues to drive demand for high-performance computing, and we are meeting that need. Fir will drive research across Canada and I have no doubt it will facilitate significant advances in a wide range of fields in the coming years.”
- Dugan O’Neil, SFU’s Vice President Research and Innovation.
About Fir
The new system, Fir, continues the West Coast inspired naming tradition established with naming Cedar, the decommissioned supercomputer. It is named after the Red Creek Fir, the largest known Douglas fir tree on Earth by volume.
Fir also marks the transition from conventional air cooling to advanced direct-to-chip liquid cooling, significantly improving energy efficiency and reducing cooling-related power consumption.
Designed for performance and scale, Fir includes:
- 165,888 CPU cores
- 640 H100 SXM5 80GB GPUs
- 50 petabytes of high-performance storage based on DDN Lustre
About the Digital Research Alliance of Canada
The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) advances and maintains digital research infrastructure (DRI) to support the management, storage and use of national research computing, data and research software. A non-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada, the Alliance serves researchers by improving data access, collaborating with DRI partners, nurturing the DRI workforce, integrating services and enhancing security. DRI is a critical national asset, and the Alliance leverages its capacities to support cutting-edge research and innovation across all disciplines — propelling Canadian research forward now and into the future.
Media Contact
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