The details:

The Nibi supercomputer at the University of Waterloo represents a critical leap forward in Canada’s digital research infrastructure. Supporting over 10,000 researchers annually, it provides the compute power and secure storage needed to accelerate discoveries in science, engineering, and medicine.

Nibi, named after the Anishinaabemowin word for water, is a general-purpose cluster of the latest 134,400 Intel® Xeon® 6 CPU cores. Built by Hypertec on immersion-born server technology, the cluster is hosted and operated by SHARCNET at the University of Waterloo. It replaces the Graham system, which was reaching end of life, with a modern, sustainable platform.

Its design leverages water-based cooling rather than traditional air systems, significantly reducing energy consumption and operating costs. The system captures waste heat from high-performance computing and repurposes it to heat the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre. This turns an environmental challenge into a resource.

This infrastructure enables groundbreaking research while aligning with long-term sustainability goals. A video use case would highlight not only the scale of research impact but also the technological innovation, cultural recognition, and environmental responsibility embedded in Nibi’s design, demonstrating its value to both researchers and the broader community.