The Enormous Complexity of Our Future
Supercomputers are built from the ground up to prioritize operations such as AI, converged modeling and simulation. Exascale computing is about to take our world to unimaginable places. With companies such as Hewlett Packard and Intel developing these new systems, we will see unprecedented scientific discovery and innovation leading the global future.
What is Exascale Computing?
Hewlett Packard Enterprise explains, “Exascale computing is a type of ultra-powerful supercomputing, with systems performing billions of computations per second utilizing an infrastructure of CPUs and GPUs to process and analyze data. This type of computer is operated by digital systems, in conjunction with the most powerful hardware in the world.”
What was once considered “impossible” is now a reality, with supercomputers such as Aurora installed at the Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The supercomputer takes up 10,000 square feet of floor space, contains 300 miles of optical cable, weighs more than an Airbus A380, and can solve a math problem in one second–that would take the entire global population 40 years if they calculated it 10 seconds at a time.
According to Rick Stevens, the associate laboratory director for computing, environment, and life sciences at Argonne National Laboratory, “You don’t design an airplane without supercomputers. You don’t design an airplane engine without supercomputers. You don’t design a car anymore without a supercomputer. You don’t even design the mixtures in gasoline without a supercomputer. You can probably try to name something, almost anything of value, and it will have its roots in some kind of high-end computing simulation or data analysis system.”
Supercomputing & The Economy
The impact supercomputing could have on the economy has been largely unrealized for the last several years. However, according to a market study by Technavio, the “Supercomputer Market is expected to increase by $12.51 billion from 2020 to 2025, with an accelerated CAGR of 20.04 percent. The report provides a detailed analysis of drivers & opportunities, top winning strategies, competitive scenario, future market trends, market size & estimations, and major investment pockets. APAC will register the highest growth rate of 51 percent among the other regions.” With the U.S. alone having spent over $1.8 billion on three exascale supercomputers built between 2021 and 2022, there will be more on the rise in 2023.
What Supercomputing Can Do for Three Major Markets
Supercomputers will be the future of science, security and healthcare. For instance:
- Exascale computing has the ability to solve problems in chemical elements origins, controlling unstable chemicals and materials, validating laws of nature, and probing particle physics.
- Exascale computing helps stop cyber threats to our national, energy, and economic security while simultaneously promoting growth and efficiency in food production and more sustainable urban planning.
- National security is enhanced by Exascale’s incomprehensible speeds which gives it the ability to counter innumerable risks and threats to the safety of the nation.
- Exascale computing also accurately assess risk assessment of natural disasters, such as predicting seismic activity and forming proactive solutions.
- In healthcare, exascale supercomputers help develop predictive models for drug reactions and intelligent automation capacity to revolutionize cancer research at an accelerated rate.
With countries like the U.S. and India expanding advanced weaponry, supercomputing, semiconductors to counter China’s efforts to do the same–Exascale will be the new wave of supercomputing.
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