THE CONTEXT: India’s pursuit of indigenous supercomputing capabilities has reached a new milestone with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of three PARAM Rudra supercomputers. These advanced systems underscore the nation’s commitment to technological self-reliance and scientific progress through the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
Supercomputers
Supercomputers are large, powerful computing systems specifically designed to perform complex calculations and process massive amounts of data at extremely high speeds. They are far more powerful than general-purpose computers and are used to tackle computationally intensive problems in science, engineering, and data analytics.
Key features of supercomputers:
- Massive parallel processing capabilities
- Extremely high processing speeds (measured in floating-point operations per second or FLOPS)
- Large amounts of memory and storage
- Specialized cooling systems to handle heat generation
- Custom software and operating systems optimized for high-performance computing
Supercomputers are crucial in advancing scientific research and technological innovation across many fields. Some critical applications include:
- Climate modeling and weather forecasting.
- Molecular dynamics simulations for drug discovery.
- Astrophysics research and cosmological simulations.
- Oil and gas exploration.
- Financial modeling and risk analysis.
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning.
THE NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING MISSION (NSM):
The National Supercomputing Mission was launched in 2015 to enhance India’s supercomputing capabilities for research and development. Key aspects of the NSM include:
- To make India one of the world leaders in supercomputing.
- To provide researchers access to state-of-the-art supercomputing facilities.
- To develop Indigenous supercomputing technology and expertise.
IMPLEMENTATION:
- Joint initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- Total budget of Rs 4,500 crore over seven years.
- Implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).
PROGRESS:
- Plan to deploy 24 facilities with cumulative compute power over 64 Petaflops.
- 11 systems deployed so far with over 20 Petaflops of computing power.
- Indigenous development of key components like compute servers and interconnects.
INDIA’S PUSH FOR INDIGENOUS SUPERCOMPUTING
India is investing heavily in developing its supercomputing capabilities for several important reasons:
- Strategic autonomy: Reducing dependence on foreign technology in a critical area.
- Cost-effectiveness: Building supercomputers domestically can be more economical in the long run.
- Customization: Ability to design systems tailored to India’s specific research needs.
- Skill development: Creating a skilled workforce in high-performance computing.
- Economic benefits: Potential for technology transfer to other sectors of the economy.
THE ISSUES:
Infrastructure Gaps: While India has progressed, the gap with global leaders remains significant.
- As of November 2023, India has only 3 supercomputers in the Top 500 list, compared to China’s 162 and the USA’s 127.
- India’s fastest supercomputer, PARAM Siddhi-AI, ranks 75th globally with a performance of 5.267 petaflops.
- In contrast, the world’s fastest supercomputer, Frontier in the USA, achieves 1.194 exaflops – over 200 times more powerful than India’s best.
Lack of Semiconductor Manufacturing Capabilities: India’s dependence on imported semiconductors is a critical weakness.
- As of 2023, India imports 100% of its high-end chips used in supercomputers.
- The government has approved a ₹76,000 crore ($10 billion) scheme to boost semiconductor manufacturing, but production is yet to begin.
- The first semiconductor fabrication plant by Micron in Gujarat is expected to start production only by late 2024.
Global Competitiveness: India’s supercomputing capabilities lag behind global leaders.
- China and the US are already operating exascale systems (capable of a quintillion calculations per second).
- India’s planned exascale system, PARAM-Shankh, is set to launch only in 20243.
- The total computing power of India’s top supercomputers is around 25 petaflops, while China and the US have individual systems exceeding one exaflop.
Limited Industrial Adoption: Supercomputing in India is primarily confined to research institutions.
- The Indian Railways e-ticketing platform sells 130,000 tickets daily and is one of India’s few large-scale industrial supercomputing applications.
- In contrast, countries like the US and China extensively use supercomputers in industries such as oil and gas exploration, automotive design, and financial modeling.
Technological Gap: India is still catching up in advanced computing technologies.
- While countries like the US and China are developing neuromorphic and quantum computing systems, India still focuses on conventional supercomputing architectures.
- India’s AIRAWAT supercomputer, with 410 AI petaflops, is a significant achievement but still far behind systems like the US Department of Energy’s AI-optimized supercomputer, which has 3.5 exaflops of AI performance.
Human Resource Development: There’s a significant skills gap in high-performance computing.
- The National Supercomputing Mission has trained around 11,000 people so far, but this is insufficient for a country of India’s size and ambitions.
- India produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, but only a small fraction has expertise in HPC and AI.
Funding Constraints: Investment in supercomputing in India is relatively modest.
- The National Supercomputing Mission has a budget of ₹4,500 crore ($600 million) over seven years.
- In comparison, the US Department of Energy alone invested $1.8 billion in its exascale computing project.
THE WAY FORWARD:
BOOST DOMESTIC CAPABILITIES
- Boost semiconductor manufacturing: India’s semiconductor market is projected to grow from US$34.3 billion in 2023 to US$100.2 billion by 2032. To capitalize on this growth, India needs to significantly increase its domestic manufacturing capabilities. The government’s US$10 billion semiconductor initiative has already attracted significant investments.
- Implement policies to attract investments in chip manufacturing: The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) is offering fiscal support of up to 50% of the project cost for setting up semiconductor and display fabs. This has led to concrete results, such as Tata Electronics’ partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) to invest INR 910 billion (~US$11 billion) in a semiconductor fabrication facility in Dholera, Gujarat.
- Increase R&D funding: India’s Budget 2024 announced an increased allocation for the semiconductor ecosystem and the establishment of a US$12 billion innovation corpus to incentivize R&D. This funding boost could help India move up the semiconductor value chain, where design constitutes 50% of the global value.
Enhance Skills and Collaboration
- Expand training initiatives in HPC and related fields: Building on the success of existing programs, India should focus on creating more specialized learning centers. For example, the National Supercomputing Mission has already established dedicated learning centers at IIT Kharagpur, Palakkad, Chennai, Goa, and CDAC, Pune.
- Promote industry-academia collaboration: India can learn from successful models like Taiwan’s, where industry clusters and a supportive fabless ecosystem contributed to the success of their semiconductor industry. Similar clusters in India could foster collaboration between academia, research institutions, and industry.
Focus on Next-Generation Technologies
- Focus on exascale computing: India’s vision for exascale computing, as outlined in the “Exa-scale Vision of India” presentation, aims to establish a dependable and secure exascale ecosystem with innovative designs and disruptive technologies. The PARAM SHANKH project, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission, is set to realize an indigenous exascale supercomputer.
- Strengthen international partnerships: India is already collaborating with global leaders. For instance, in September 2024, the US State Department announced a partnership with India’s Semiconductor Mission to explore opportunities. Such partnerships can be expanded to include more countries and companies at the forefront of supercomputing technologies.
Expand Applications and Impact
- Diversify supercomputing applications: India’s supercomputers are used for various critical applications. For example, the recently inaugurated supercomputers at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) in Noida are dedicated to weather and climate research. These systems have a combined power of up to 21.91 Petaflops.
- Enhance accessibility of supercomputing resources: India can work on making its supercomputing resources more accessible to researchers and industries across the country. The existing network of supercomputers in various institutions provides a foundation for this. For instance, as of mid-2022, three supercomputers in India were ranked in the top 500 supercomputers list.
THE CONCLUSION:
The NSM’s success in deploying over 20 supercomputers and training thousands of experts demonstrates India’s growing prowess in high-performance computing. This initiative enhances the country’s research capabilities across diverse fields and positions India as a formidable player in the global technological landscape.
UPSC PAST YEAR QUESTION:
Q. Why is nanotechnology one of the critical technologies of the 21st century? Describe the salient features of the Indian Government’s Mission on Nanoscience and Technology and the scope of its application in the country’s development process. 2016
MAINS PRACTICE QUESTION:
Q. The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is a significant initiative to enhance India’s technological capabilities. Discuss the NSM’s objectives, achievements, and strategic importance in the context of India’s scientific and technological advancement.
SOURCE:
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/india-mission-supercomputers-9600292/
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