KISTI Launches HPC Infrastructure to Enhance ASEAN Digital Capabilities

□ The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (President Sik Lee, hereafter KISTI) announced that it held an opening ceremony on June 18 at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Jakarta, Indonesia, to celebrate the official launch of High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure designed to support data and artificial intelligence (AI) utilization across ASEAN nations.

□ This international cooperation initiative is a core component of the Korea–ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship Project (KADIF)*. Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN–Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF), the four-year project runs from September 2024 to 2028 with a total budget of $10 million. The project aims to enhance digital capabilities by providing ASEAN member states with a robust, HPC-based environment for research and application.

  * Korea–ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship Project (KADIF): A project driven by the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) to strengthen AI and digital capabilities within the ASEAN region

□ The primary pillars of the project encompass ▲Establishing HPC infrastructure ▲Launching a National Science and Technology Information Service (NTIS) platform ▲Operating professional training and educational programs for HPC and AI utilization to train 160 specialists over the four-year period

□ Currently, a majority of ASEAN nations, with the exception of Thailand and Singapore, face a shortage of domestic HPC infrastructure. In particular, they lack sufficient GPU-accelerated computing and Neural Processing Unit (NPU)-based HPC environments, which serve as the backbone for advanced data and AI utilization.

□ To address these challenges, KISTI will establish a 4.2-petaflop (PF*) system to expand the regional research backbone network and bolster digital technology competitiveness. Furthermore, KISTI plans to support digital transformation across ASEAN nations by sharing its extensive HPC operational expertise and AI technical capabilities.

   * Petaflops (PF): A unit of computing performance equal to one quadrillion floating-point operations per second.

□ In tandem with regional development, the project is expected to enhance the competitiveness of South Korea’s domestic digital industry by expanding the global market presence of homegrown AI semiconductors and security-related software.

□ Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, who attended the event on behalf of the Secretary-General of ASEAN, stated, "We expect this HPC infrastructure project to significantly contribute to elevating the digital, scientific, and technological competitiveness of ASEAN nations. ASEAN will actively support the establishment of a sustainable digital cooperation framework between Korea and ASEAN."

□ Chul Lee, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN, stated, "I sincerely congratulate the launch of the HPC infrastructure, which will strengthen the digital R&D capabilities of ASEAN nations. I look forward to this project paving the way for new digital innovation partnerships and expanding R&D-based digital cooperation between Korea and ASEAN."

□ KISTI President Sik Lee stated, "I hope that this HPC infrastructure launch for data utilization will substantially contribute to enhancing the digital capabilities of ASEAN nations and, furthermore, serve as a milestone to strengthen the foundation of science and technology cooperation between Korea and ASEAN."

Korea-ASEAN HPC Infrastructure Opening Ceremony