The national supercomputer No. 6, 'Han River,' will begin operation this month after years of anticipation.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) held a launch ceremony for the national supercomputer No. 6, Han River, on the 2nd at KISTI's headquarters in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
Attendees included Kim Seong-su, Director of the Research and Development Policy Division at the Ministry of Science and ICT, Lee Sik, President of KISTI, and approximately 200 officials from industry, academia, research institutions, and related agencies.
A supercomputer is a system capable of analyzing and processing large volumes of data at ultra-high speeds. Its computing speed is hundreds to thousands of times faster than that of a standard computer. It serves as a core research infrastructure supporting large-scale computations and data analysis that are difficult for domestic researchers to conduct individually. South Korea began operating its first supercomputer in 1988 and currently operates the fifth unit, 'Nuri-on.'
The newly launched Supercomputer No. 6 is equipped with 9,936 CPUs (Central Processing Units) and 8,496 NVIDIA GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), specifically the 'GH200' model. It boasts a theoretical performance of 614 petaflops (PF; 1 PF represents a computer capable of performing 1,000 trillion operations per second), a storage capacity of 205 petabytes (PB; 1 PB equals 1,024 terabytes), and an ultra-high-speed network performance exceeding 400 Gbps.
The International Supercomputing Conference releases the global ranking of supercomputer performance twice a year. With this introduction, South Korea is expected to be listed within the top 10 in the world for supercomputer performance.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and KISTI have been operating a pilot service since September, following a recruitment process for researchers. The official service launch date is December 16.
Lee Sik, President of KISTI, stated, "We will strive to provide stable operation and user support based on our past experience in managing supercomputers, so that No. 6 'Han River' can serve as a foundation supporting the challenging research of domestic researchers."
Director Kim Seong-su said, "Based on Supercomputer No. 6, we will solve national challenges such as K-Moonshot and actively support innovative research across industry, academia, and research institutions."
Meanwhile, Supercomputer No. 6 will begin service four years after passing the preliminary feasibility study in 2022.
in TECH
