Bengaluru will soon get a 35-petaflop supercomputer, a high-capacity computing machine, currently being built by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
A petaflop is a unit of measurement for computer processing speed, representing one quadrillion floating-point operations per second.
Over 3,000 servers
“The installation will comprise over 3,000 servers working in unison. It is currently undergoing final testing to ensure all systems and utilities are fully functional and benchmarks expected to be completed before its official launch later this year,” said Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan, who was speaking at a curtain-raiser of Supercomputing India Summit, 2025.
According to Mr. Krishnan, the supercomputer will play a key role in research, innovation, high-performance computing, quantum computing and artificial intelligence. And, when fully operational, it will enable high-end simulations and scientific research projects in partnership with the industry and academia.
Responding to a query on the benefit of supercomputing missions, Mr. Krishnan said the supercomputing mission has already shown tangible results. During the COVID-19 pandemic, simulations on the Param Siddhi AI supercomputer helped identify the potential of an ayurvedic drug against the virus. Collaborations with industry partners, including Lupin Pharma, have leveraged high-performance computing for drug discovery and other research initiatives.
Outlay for National Supercomputing Mission
He further said that the exact government outlay for the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM 2.0), with a focus on AI and semiconductor technology, was yet to be finalised and funding would combine government support with other mechanisms. Multinational technology firms such as NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD were expected to provide initial guidance and support, Mr. Krishnan said.
Under NSM, 37 supercomputers with a cumulative capacity of 39 petaflops have already been commissioned across academic and research institutions, empowering scientists, engineers and students with cutting-edge computational resources.
India to host Supercomputing event for the first time
Magesh E., Director General, C-DAC, said India, for the first time, would host the global event, Supercomputing, between December 9 and 13 at the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) in the city. The theme, ‘Powering the Future: High Performance Computing, AI and Quantum Computing’, was designed to align with the country’s flagship initiative, The National Supercomputing Mission, which had a mandate to build a network of high-performance super computers for research, innovation and national development, he said.
Published – October 15, 2025 12:54 am IST
