Korean Supercomputer Technology to Support ASEAN Science and Technology Development

Commemorative Event for HPC Infrastructure Support Held in Jakarta
10 Million USD from Korea-ASEAN Cooperation Fund to Be Used Until 2028
Supercomputer Project Expected to Boost Science and Technology in ASEAN Countries

A supercomputer built with Korean technology will contribute to the advancement of science and technology in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

Lee Sik, Director of KISTI, is delivering a congratulatory speech at the HPC infrastructure establishment ceremony held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo by KISTI

According to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI, President Lee Sik), a commemorative event for the 'Building HPC Infrastructure and HPC Capacity for ASEAN Data Utilization' was held on the 10th in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the ASEAN Secretariat is located.

As part of the Korea-ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship Project (KADIF), the HPC infrastructure and capacity-building project is an international cooperation project supported by the Korea-ASEAN Cooperation Fund (AKCF) provided by the Korean government. It has been underway since September last year and will continue for a total of four years until 2028, utilizing a budget of 10 million USD. The project includes building high-performance computing infrastructure, establishing the Science and Technology Knowledge Information Service (NTIS) platform, and conducting training on HPC and AI utilization.

This project aims to establish research infrastructure for ASEAN countries that lack high-performance computing infrastructure and to contribute to enhancing the digital technology competitiveness of ASEAN countries by leveraging KISTI’s internal capabilities such as HPC operation and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Currently, eight ASEAN member countries, except Thailand and Singapore, do not possess high-performance computing infrastructure. High-performance computing environments based on Graphics Processing Units (GPU) and Neural Processing Units (NPU) are even more scarce.

Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, expressed, “This HPC infrastructure project, a core research infrastructure collaboration between Korea and ASEAN, will greatly contribute to enhancing the digital and scientific technology competitiveness of ASEAN countries.”

Lee Jang-geun, Ambassador of the Korean Mission to ASEAN, said, “Through the establishment of HPC infrastructure, we will create new opportunities for digital innovation infrastructure projects between Korea and ASEAN that did not exist before and establish a digital cooperation model based on research capabilities.”

Lee Sik, President of KISTI, stated, “We hope that building HPC infrastructure for ASEAN data utilization will contribute to strengthening the digital capabilities of ASEAN countries and further serve as an opportunity to lay the foundation for Korea-ASEAN science and technology cooperation.”