Report Highlights Vital Role Of Supercomputing For American Future
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
The U.S. risks being surpassed by China, Japan, and EU in supercomputing race.
The United States needs to up its supercomputing game or risk being surpassed by China, Japan, and the EU according to an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report. The study urged policymakers to take decisive steps to ensure the U.S. continues to be a world leader in high-performance computing and not lose its edge in terms of economic competitiveness and national security.
“From efficiently designing next-generation products, to empowering scientific discovery, to ensuring the nation’s security, high-performance computing undergirds America’s defense and industrial competitiveness,” said Stephen Ezell, ITIF vice president for global innovation policy and coauthor of the new report.
According to the study, “The Vital Importance of High-Performance Computing to U.S. Competitiveness,” high-performance computing is a strategic resource that must be sustained for continued national leadership, competitiveness, and security.
“The U.S. is home to three of the five fastest supercomputers in the world, but China is home to the global frontrunner and plans to launch an even faster supercomputer this year. Japan and the EU have also introduced concerted national programs to achieve high-performance computing leadership. While America is still the world leader, other nations are gaining on us, so the U.S. cannot afford to rest on its laurels. It is important for policymakers to build on efforts the Obama administration has undertaken to ensure the U.S. does not get out paced,” said Ezell.
Despite the potential of supercomputing for a wide range of industries, the report shows how competition for global leadership in this area is intensifying. Data demonstrates that while the U.S. is home to 199 of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers, this number is down 14 percent from the previous year and represents the fewest number of supercomputers the U.S. has placed in the top 500 since the list’s inception in 1993. Meanwhile, other nations are simultaneously building up their own national strategies to strengthen their high-performance computing ecosystems with the goal of edging out the United States.
“This isn’t just about making sure U.S. vendors are competitive,” said ITIF President Robert D. Atkinson, coauthor of the report. “This is about building a robust U.S. high-performance computing ecosystem focused on adoption and use, not just production. This will entail broadening knowledge and training and encouraging government agencies to use supercomputers for specific purposes like defense, renewable energy, weather forecasting, and more. Federal R&D investment in frontier technologies has been a catalyst for U.S. development of world-leading technology industries, and it will continue to be critical for leadership in high-performance computing as well.”