Bengaluru to host India’s most powerful supercomputer, boosting AI and climate research

Bengaluru hosts India’s new 30-petaflop supercomputer, boosting AI and climate research.

Bengaluru has been chosen as the site for India’s most powerful supercomputer, a 30 petaflop machine set to significantly accelerate research in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and climate modelling.

The announcement, confirmed by senior government officials, solidifies the city’s status as the nation’s premier hub for high-tech innovation.

The new facility, as per TOI report, will make Bengaluru the epicentre of India's next phase in high-performance computing.

When operational, it will be nearly as powerful as the 37 supercomputers currently active across the country, which together provide a cumulative speed of 39 petaflops. A single petaflop represents the ability to perform one quadrillion calculations per second.

S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, announced the decision at the launch of Super Computing India 2025.

He highlighted the existing network's impact, noting that the 37 operational supercomputers are already aiding over 10,000 researchers and have contributed to more than 1,250 research papers. "This demonstrates extensive domestic experience and expertise, largely enabled by C-DAC," Krishnan stated.

The project is being built by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the National Supercomputing Mission. According to TOI report, Pune had also been in the running for the prestigious installation.

Magesh Ethirajan, Director General of C-DAC, provided the reasoning behind the choice as cited by TOI. "Initially, we thought to place it in Pune but because of delay in approvals and allotments, we have decided to place it in Bengaluru," he said. "Despite a few challenges, the presence of better technology, workforce and capacity availability led us to install it here."

The supercomputer is already installed and undergoing rigorous testing at the C-DAC centre in Bengaluru. Ethirajan indicated that the process is mostly expected to be completed by December.

He emphasised the scale of the undertaking, noting the system involves over 3,000 servers that must operate in unison. "Sustained power and other utilities must remain stable during testing," he added.

The technological leap is expected to have wide-ranging applications. The new supercomputer will empower scientists to conduct critical work in weather forecasting, climate modelling, space exploration, satellite data analysis, drug discovery, genomics and national security simulations.

This infrastructure is poised to transform research and innovation in the city, enabling experts to advance drug discovery, tackle urban environmental challenges, develop sophisticated flood warning systems and optimise telecom networks.

Industry experts reportedly said Bengaluru's strong tech ecosystem and deep engineering talent pool made it a logical choice. The city is a key hub for semiconductor and chip design, housing nearly 20% of the world's chip designers.

This new national asset will surpass the current most powerful supercomputer in an Indian academic institution - the 3.3 petaflop Param Pravega, installed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru in 2022.

Its installation marks a significant milestone for India's scientific community, providing unprecedented computational power to solve some of the most complex challenges of our time.

The forthcoming event, ‘Powering the Future: HPC, AI, Quantum’, scheduled for December 9-13 at the Manipal Institute of Technology, is expected to further the dialogue on these transformative technologies.