The bidding for the introduction of national supercomputer No. 6 has been delayed once again.
According to the Public Procurement Service's Nara Market and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) on the 21st, the bidding announcement for the construction of supercomputer No. 6 was canceled, and a re-announcement was posted on the same day. According to the original schedule, the bid opening was supposed to take place on this day, but with the re-announcement, the opening date has been postponed to February 6.
KISTI, which manages the national supercomputer, explained that there were problems in the purchase specifications of the original bidding announcement, leading to some modifications before re-announcing it. The introduction of supercomputer No. 6, which is already significantly delayed, has been postponed again due to administrative reasons.
Supercomputer No. 6 was supposed to be operational this year according to the original plan. The project aimed to build a supercomputer recognized as one of the top ten in the world, with system performance of 600 petaflops (PF), storage capacity of 200 petabytes (PB), and network bandwidth of 400 gigabits per second (Gbps).
However, the significant rise in the price of GPUs (graphics processing units), which are essential components of the supercomputer, has delayed the project. Not a single GPU supplier participated in the four bidding announcements. The budget of 292.9 billion won, designated by the government after a preliminary feasibility study, was insufficient to secure enough of the now-expensive GPUs. Eventually, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance reviewed the appropriateness of the preliminary feasibility study last year and increased the budget to 448.3 billion won.
However, this time, the exchange rate seems to be a hindrance. The newly set budget for supercomputer No. 6 was based on the average exchange rate for 2023. The exchange rate for the won against the dollar was 1,305.41 won. However, since last year, the exchange rate has skyrocketed to the 1,450 won range. GPUs supplied by overseas companies must be purchased in dollars, and with the soaring exchange rate, it is uncertain whether sufficient GPUs can be secured with the allocated budget.
The national supercomputer is utilized in various fields, including foundational scientific research requiring large-scale computations, new drug development, nuclear energy, and enhancing industrial competitiveness. The currently used national supercomputer No. 5 began service in 2018 and has already significantly lagged behind competitors in terms of performance. With an average utilization rate exceeding 76%, the system is also reaching saturation.