HPC System Processor Preference: x86 Continues to Dominate

Expertise is now a major concern for both HPC and AI centers, outranked only by budget concerns. When asked about barriers to furthering AI capabilities, AI-specific expertise was a significant concern. Popular responses included access to AI expertise (49%), skills in AI model development (47%), and skills in AI programming (36%). This development comes at a time when a third of HPC sites (33%) report a lack of knowledge or skilled staff and identified this issue among their top three barriers to expanding on-premises HPC. This data is from the eighth annual study of Hyperion Research's high-performance computing (HPC) end-user-based tracking of the HPC marketplace. It included 181 HPC end-user sites with 3,830 HPC systems.

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) recently announced the selection of six sites to host what could be the first major round of EU government-sponsored quantum computer (QC) procurements. The new QC systems will be integrated into leading EU-based HPC sites including the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Centre in Czechia, the Barcelona Supercomputer Center in Spain, and Cineca in Italy, as well as key HPC sites in France, Germany, and Poland. The QC systems will be networked to support EU-wide access by academic, commercial and government research facilities. Half of the 2023 €100 million procurement budget will come from the EU and the remainder from the 17 countries participating in the EuroHPC JU. The QC hardware and software for this effort will draw exclusively on EU technology developed under EU-funded quantum initiatives, related national programs, and private investments.