[Reading Science] The US is also in a hurry... No more delays for Supercomputer 6

National Security and Economic Power Symbol
US Plans to Introduce Supercomputer Five Times More Powerful Amid Concerns Over China's Rapid Advancement
South Korea Must Actively Secure Scarce GPUs

Which country has the world's highest-performance supercomputer? Nominally, it is undoubtedly the 'Frontier' at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy.

However, in academia and industry, the prevailing opinion is that this cannot be trusted. Why is that? It is due to suspicions that the Chinese government is not properly disclosing information about the computers they possess. Before the U.S.-China conflict intensified, there was fierce competition between the two countries in supercomputer performance. There were even attempts for both sides to cooperate to enhance computer performance.

The situation changed when the U.S. restricted the supply of key semiconductors needed for supercomputers, such as central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs). Recent trends in supercomputers focus more on GPUs than CPUs. Using a large number of Nvidia's advanced GPUs is essential to further boost supercomputer performance. The dawn of the artificial intelligence (AI) era has also increased the necessity of GPUs. Academia agrees that this is the decisive reason why the U.S. has prohibited the sale of the latest Nvidia GPUs to China, following the CPU restrictions.

Supercomputers are important because they are closely linked not only to the national economy but also to security. Supercomputers under the U.S. Department of Energy play a vital role in scientific fields such as new drug development and climate change, as well as in defense sectors including nuclear weapons, advanced stealth fighters, and missiles. The saying that supercomputer performance equates to national power is not without reason.

Does this mean China has given up on supercomputer development? An academic insider said, "There is widespread rumor that China deliberately does not disclose supercomputer performance to avoid provoking the U.S." Even if China does not reveal it directly, the performance of their supercomputers can be estimated. According to academic papers, China's supercomputers already surpass Frontier. Tianhe-3, Tianhe-Xingyi, and Sunway computers are the main players. It is also reported that China has been utilizing improved versions of the 'Alpha' chip, developed by the U.S. in the 1990s, under license for their supercomputers.

After the U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on these rumors, the U.S. side became urgent. Oak Ridge Laboratory recently announced a call for proposals from IT companies by the end of this month for the 'Discovery' supercomputer, which is expected to deliver 3 to 5 times the performance of Frontier. Discovery is targeted to be operational in 2027 or early 2028.

What about our situation? The Ministry of Science and ICT, ambitiously aiming to foster world-class research, has selected the 'Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Virtual Reactor Platform Development Project Group' under the 'Global Top Strategy Group' project, which is proceeding on the premise of introducing the sixth national supercomputer. The problem is that there is no certainty about when this computer will be introduced. Last year, the bid for the sixth national supercomputer failed to keep up with the times and was ignored by computer companies due to a sharp rise in GPU prices. The Ministry of Science and ICT's proactive will to secure GPUs is also lagging behind competing countries.

Industry experts point out that while securing the budget is important, the current response is problematic given that companies and governments worldwide are competing to secure GPUs. Yeo Sang-im, the nominee for Minister of Science and ICT, said he has not used AI, but as a scholar, might he have experience in research using supercomputers? Will a change in leadership help the Ministry of Science and ICT recognize that it is falling behind the times?