The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information has tapped Hewlett Packard Enterprise to build South Korea’s largest, most powerful supercomputer. Named KISTI-6, the system will support artificial intelligence and simulation research and is expected to reach 600 petaflops of theoretical peak performance.
According to HPE, KISTI-6 will be deployed in a government data center tailored for liquid-cooled infrastructure. It will feature a 100 percent fanless direct liquid cooling system, increasing energy efficiency, computing density and sustainability. The system will be built on the HPE Cray Supercomputing EX4000 architecture and divided into two partitions: one powered by NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips and another by 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors.
To accelerate data movement, HPE will deploy its exascale-capable Slingshot interconnect, which allows data transfers at 400 Gbps. For data management, KISTI selected the HPE Cray Supercomputing Storage Systems E2000 and the HPE Data Management Framework.
The project supports South Korea’s goal of advancing sovereign artificial intelligence and scientific competitiveness. “We are proud to support this strategic initiative to strengthen Korea’s capabilities in fundamental scientific research and advanced artificial intelligence, aligned with their broader mission to support national R&D advancement,” said Joseph Yang, general manager for high performance computing and AI at HPE Asia-Pacific and India.
KISTI President Sik Lee added that the initiative aims to develop local expertise and promote inclusive access to AI across industries.
The announcement follows HPE’s December 2024 contract to build the next-generation “Blue Lion” supercomputer for Germany’s Leibniz Supercomputing Center. That $280.3 million system will also feature direct liquid cooling and is expected to support national and regional scientific research starting in 2027.