#India to Set Up 70 Supercomputers by 2022

The supercomputers will be employed predominantly for defence research, and predicting climatic changes. The grid-like connection of these research facilities has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return from his foreign trip to China and South Korea.

How Powerful Are Supercomputers, really?

A report in the Indian Express revealed that the supercomputers will have capacities ranging from 0.5 petaFlops to 20 petaFlops. (A petaFlop is the measure of a computer’s processing speed).
To put it to perspective, a one petaFlop machine is capable of one quadrillion mathematical computations per second.

By the time this project operates at full steam, the speed of the supercomputers could reach 50 petaFlops (that’s an impressive 50 quadrillion mathematical computations per second).

How much, for whom, and by when?

In its nascent stages, the project is estimated to cost Rs 4500 crores. The supercomputers will be set up in conjunction with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Information and Technology (DIT). DST reportedly will be shelling out Rs 2800 crores, while DIT will chip in with Rs 1700 crores.

The Microfinance Monitor reported that the areas of R&D to benefit from these supercomputers include defence, biology, weather forecast, climate change and early warning defence systems.
In addition to this, the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC); the Indian Institute of Science (IISc); the Department of Science and Technology; and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology are the prime beneficiaries. The setup of the supercomputers will be completed by 2022.