The laboratory is the first in the region to integrate the high-performance processing system
Text: Versanna Carvalho
Photo: divulgação
Oneportariaof the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Setad/MCTI) approved the designation ofAdvanced Computing Laboratory of Brazil Central (Lamcad), affiliated with the Federal University of Goiás (UFG), as the National High-Performance Computing Center (Cenapad). With this recognition, the laboratory became the first in the Central-West region to be part of the National High-Performance Computing System (Sinapad). The documentSetad/MCTI 10.300/2026was published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) at the end of last August.
The purpose of Sinapad is to provide on-demand High Performance Computing (HPC) services to universities, research institutes and other public and private institutions, to support the development of computational products and applications, to promote and support the training of specialized personnel and to transfer knowledge and technology related to high-performance computing, according toMCTI portaria 9.445/2025which deals with the constitution and functioning of Sinapad.
The same portaria9.445/2025establishes that in order to be designated as a Cenapad, a computing center must meet six requirements: demonstrate the existence of computational capacity and physical infrastructure for the full operation of the center; be part of the e-Ciência network, or be connected to the Ipê network of the National Education and Research Network (RNP); demonstrate the existence of a technical team for the continuous operation of the center, including user support and training activities; provide access to external users to the institution hosting the center; possess well-defined procedures for the access and management of external users to the institution hosting the center; commit to providing a percentage of its total computational capacity to the Sinapad, with a minimum percentage of 25%; and include a plan for the articulation and development of the regional innovation ecosystem around the Cenapad.
National Supercomputing
The general coordinator of Lamcad and professor at the Institute of Physics at UFG, Herbert de Castro Georg, explained that it is the responsibility of Sinapad to coordinate the Cenapads and integrate them into a national supercomputing network. The Cenapads, on the other hand, have as their main objective to provide infrastructure and computational capacity for researchers in all areas that require high-performance computing, in all regions of the country.
"The designation as a Cenapad is a very important milestone for Lamcad, as it consolidates the laboratory as a reference center in high-performance computing in the central region of the country, and comes at an emblematic moment in which we are expanding our physical and computational infrastructure through the new data center that will be delivered in the coming months and a new supercomputer that is in the acquisition phase and which should significantly expand our computational capacity already next year," Herbert assessed.
According to the professor, Lamcad serves researchers from all over the State of Goiás, free of charge, having today approximately 300 registered users in more than 60 research projects in different areas of knowledge, in addition to being open to making partnerships with companies, governments and the third sector.
In addition to observing the researchers, Lamcad has also established partnerships with Centers of Excellence in the State of Goiás, such as the Center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (Ceia), the Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, Monitoring and Forecasts of the Cerrado (Cempa-Cerrado), and the Center of Excellence in Exponential Agriculture (Ceagre), providing physical and computing infrastructure to support projects developed by the centers.
The general coordinator highlighted the support received from MCTI for Sinapad. "MCTI has provided significant support for the restructuring of Sinapad. The ministry is betting on Cenapads as an important vector for the technological development of the country, based on a sovereign national computing infrastructure of high performance and artificial intelligence, integrated, secure, and scalable," he said.
"We have been meeting periodically, not only the five centers that have already been designated as Cenapads, but also others, along with MCTI, RNP, and other stakeholders, to discuss strategies and actions so that the Cenapads can effectively fulfill this role of driving scientific and technological development and supporting innovative ventures in all regions of the country," Herbert emphasized.
Development and Sovereignty
The origin of Sinapad dates back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the federal government began to treat "supercomputing as a national scientific infrastructure, and not as isolated equipment from some universities," according to André Rafael Costa e Silva, Coordinator of Science, Technology and Digital Innovation Policies at MCTI.
Starting from the Second National Plan for Informatics and Automation (II Planin), of 1991, the establishment of supercomputing centers was proposed with the support of the Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep). “Last year, in the context of digital transformations and based on the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Plan (PBIA), the MCTI took on the responsibility of rebuilding the Sinapad, in accordance with the objectives established in MCTI Resolution 9.445, of September 26, 2025,” he contextualized.
According to André Rafael, the PBIA foresees a strong expansion of Brazilian computational capacity, combining large-scale national supercomputers with a distributed infrastructure across the territory. “The new Sinapad should be the backbone of this strategy: Border Cenapads would concentrate the workloads that require greater scale, while other Cenapads of different sizes and architectures would expand capillarity, meet regional demands, and give the system greater resilience. It is not about replicating the same infrastructure in all states, but about building complementary and nationally accessible capabilities,” he observed.
The coordinator stated that the ultimate goal of this entire process is to build a national public infrastructure for advanced computing, articulating local, regional, and border capabilities to develop and operate HPC and artificial intelligence products and services. “The PBIA generates missions and demand; the Sinapad organizes and shares the infrastructure; the Cenapads bring this capacity closer to the territories; and the national strategic alliance for HPC and AI helps to transform computational power into technological dominance and national productive capacity. It is this combination that can make supercomputing not just a resource for science, but a strategic infrastructure for sovereignty, competitiveness, and the development of the country,” he summarized.
“The proposal is for them to function as hubs for advanced computing and artificial intelligence, offering processing, training, research support, optimization, and code portability, technological experimentation, and services for companies, startups, and governments. Each center can develop competencies associated with the scientific and productive vocations of its region, in a logic similar to that of European AI Factories, connecting computational infrastructure to innovation and productive transformation ecosystems,” the MCTI coordinator emphasized.
Pioneers
Still in August, another four centers became part of Sinapad, being the first in Brazil: the National Laboratory of Scientific Computing (LNCC), affiliated with the MCTI, in Petrópolis; the National Center for High-Performance Computing in São Paulo (Cenapad-SP), affiliated with the University of Campinas (Unicamp); the High-Performance Computing Core of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (NPAD/UFRN); and the National Supercomputing Center of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Cesup/UFRGS).
Now, Lamcad UFG and the other centers have until November 19 to present to the Executive Secretariat of the Board of Directors of Sinapad their respective convergence plans to the requirements of Sinapad, providing for the full fulfillment of all pre-established requirements.
See here
Decree MCTI 9.445, of September 26, 2025 - Regulates the functioning and operation of Sinapad
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