The European Commission has announced plans to invest jointly with Member States in building a European infrastructure of world class supercomputers, the press service of the institution said.

Supercomputers are needed to handle increasing volumes of data and bring benefits to society in many areas - from health and renewable energy to car safety and cybersecurity.

The contribution of the EU budget to the initiative will be around EUR 486 million under the current multiannual financial framework; the Member States and Associated States will also be involved with the same amount. By 2020, a total of about € 1 billion of public funding will be invested, and private members of the initiative will also be involved with non-cash participation, the institution says.