Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: PIB
Context: The AI supercomputer ‘AIRAWAT,’ located at C-DAC in Pune, India, has achieved a ranking of 75th in the world on the Top 500 Global Supercomputing List.
- Significance: This recognition places India among the top AI supercomputing nations globally.
About AIRAWAT:
It is part of the National Program on AI initiated by the Government of India, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “AI for All.”
- Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology envisions scaling AIRAWAT to a computing capacity of 1,000 AI Petaflops to meet the current AI computational requirements.
Benefits: The deployment of AIRAWAT will empower academia, research labs, the scientific community, industry, and startups to develop indigenous AI-enabled products and solutions, particularly for addressing India-specific challenges.
| Topic | Information |
| About Supercomputer | A supercomputer is an extremely powerful and high-performance computer capable of performing complex calculations and processing large amounts of data at incredibly fast speeds. It is used for tasks that require immense computational power. |
| Measurement | The processing speed of a supercomputer is measured in PETAFLOPS (ten to the power 15 floating point operations per second). FLOPS (floating point operations per second) are typically used to measure the performance of a computer’s processor. |
| Maximum | China has the maximum number of supercomputers globally, followed by the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. |
| Supercomputers in India | India’s first supercomputer was PARAM 8000. It was followed by PARAM Shivay, PARAM Shakti, PARAM Brahma, PARAM Yukti, and PARAM Sanganak, installed at various institutions in India. |
| Previous AI supercomputer ranking | In 2020, PARAM Siddhi, the High-Performance Computing-Artificial Intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer, achieved a global ranking of 62nd among the Top 500 most powerful supercomputer systems in the world. |
| National Supercomputing Mission | The National Supercomputing Mission (launched in 2015) with the goal of enhancing research capacities and capabilities in India. It aims to connect various research institutions to form a Supercomputing grid using the National Knowledge Network (NKN). |
| Nodal Ministry | The National Supercomputing Mission is jointly steered by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). |
| Implementation | The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, are responsible for implementing the National Supercomputing Mission. |
| Phases of the Mission | The mission is planned in three phases: Phase I focuses on assembling supercomputers, Phase II aims to manufacture certain components within the country, and Phase III involves designing a supercomputer in India. |
