President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government launched the development of the Coatlicue supercomputer as part of Plan México, its ambitious six-year strategy to attract millions of dollars in investment and boost domestic production. In Wednesday’s morning conference, José Merino, head of the Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications, announced that the project will serve to solve public problems that require a large data analysis capacity relating to the environment, energy, health and other public sector needs.
The construction of the system will last 24 months and will require an investment of 6 billion pesos. It will be run by Mexican scientists specializing in advanced computing, with technical support from the Supercomputing Center in Barcelona and the Center for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in India. The project will be integrated into the National Super Computing Cluster, the university network of high-capacity equipment coordinated by the Ministry of Sciences, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (SECIHTI). The final location of the supercomputer will be defined in January 2026, a decision that will depend on factors such as the availability of water, access to energy, the seismicity of the area and regional connectivity.
What is it?
Coatlicue is a supercomputer designed to analyze millions of data points using thousands of processors operating simultaneously. The system is made up of 15,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), 7,500 chassis and 200 cabinets, an infrastructure that together equates to the power of approximately 400,000 computers working simultaneously.
“It will allow Mexico to fully enter the use of artificial intelligence and data processing. Today we have no possibility of doing so because we do not have sufficient computing capacity. It will help us a lot, not only in the development of science and technologies, but essentially in the development of the country,” Sheinbaum said during the presentation.
The chosen name appeals to the goddess of fertility of the Mexica tradition, considered the mother of all gods. An emblematic sculpture of this figure, notable for its state of conservation, is exhibited in the National Museum of Anthropology, in Mexico City.
What is it for?
Coatlicue will be used to solve public problems that require large computing capabilities, from generating weather forecasts, anticipating natural disasters and planning crops to improve yields, to processing soil and subsurface images in search of water, oil and gas. It will also allow the analysis of customs and invoice data to identify possible acts of corruption and tax evasion. Furthermore, it will serve as a platform to carry out cutting-edge scientific research in strategic sectors, support entrepreneurial projects that require computing power, and offer massive computing services to private ventures.
