S.Korea to introduce advanced supercomputer by 2024

South Korea will introduce a high-performance supercomputing system by 2024, more than 24 times faster than the current model, a government-run research agency said on Tuesday.

The sixth-generation supercomputer will likely elevate South Korea to the fifth position from the current 42nd among the countries with supercomputing systems, according to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI).

To build the advanced computing system, the government will spend 262.9 billion won ($184 million) over six years starting from next year.

The upcoming supercomputer will be able to process larger-capacity data suitable for artificial intelligence research and high-end technologies such as semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, autonomous driving and biotechnology.

It will feature 600 petaflops performance, meaning data-handling capabilities of 1.71 million high-performance personal computers combined.

Particularly, it will come with graphic processing units (GPUs) to support AI research. When it comes to AI-related research, a GPU boasts higher performance than a central processing unit.

The current supercomputing system, or the fifth generation of its kind, was introduced in South Korea in 2018.

Now it is being overloaded with 90.1% of its capacity utilized per year, KISTI’s supercomputer division head Lee Sik told a news conference.

South Korea has been replacing its supercomputing system every five to 10 years since introducing its first model in 1988.

When it introduced the current fifth-generation supercomputer, it was ranked 11th among the countries with supercomputers. Since then, it has moved down to 42nd.

Based on current technology standards, the sixth-generation supercomputer will rank as the world’s second-most sophisticated model, Lee said.

When it comes online by the first half of 2024, it is expected to be positioned somewhere between fifth and 10th by data handling capacity.

There are 10 supercomputers in operation in the world, of which the US has five. South Korea’s first supercomputer is held by Samsung Electronics Co.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article