JAKARTA, 10 March 2025 – The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) and the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN Indonesia) announced that it held a commemorative event for the Building High Performance Computing (HPC) Infrastructure and HPC Capacity for ASEAN Data Utilization in BRIN Indonesia Head Office.
The HPC infrastructure and capacity building project, which will be promoted as part of the Korea-ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship Project (KADIF)*, is an international cooperation project that will be carried out using a budget of 10M USD (about 14.7 billion won) for a total of four years from September 2024 to 2028, with the support of the Korea-ASEAN Cooperation Fund (AKCF) provided by the Korean government, and aims to strengthen digital capabilities using data and artificial intelligence by providing ASEAN Member States with an ultra-high performance computer (HPC)-based environment.
The Korea-ASEAN HPC Infrastructure and capacity building project also being supported by BRIN. BRIN allocated space and supporting infrastructure at HPC Laboratory at KST Soekarno, Cibinong, West Java for the deployment of the Korea ASEAN HPC. BRIN also provide electricity and internet connectivity for operation of the Korea-ASEAN HPC.
The main contents of this international cooperation project are training (160 people / 4 years), such as building ultra-high-performance computer infrastructure, building a scientific and technological knowledge information service (NTIS) platform, and using HPC and AI.
Except for Thailand and Singapore, eight ASEAN Member States do not have high performance computing infrastructure, and in particular, GPU-and NPU-based high performance computing environments, which are the core of capabilities such as Data and AI, are very scarce.
Through this project, research infrastructure will be established for ASEAN countries that lack high performance computing infrastructure environment, and KISTI’s internal capabilities such as HPC operation and artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be utilized to help ASEAN countries secure digital technology competitiveness.
Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, looked forward to the full operationalization of the HPC Facility in early 2026 which would help further ASEAN’s priorities in developing skilled human capital needed to maximize the region’s potential. He also looked forward to strengthening ASEAN’s flagship HPC Schools and expanding more collaborative training initiatives with all of ASEAN’s key partners, especially in building on successes like the recently concluded Korea-ASEAN Data and AI Training Programme.
Lee Jang-geun, ambassador of ASEAN, congratulated the ASEAN-Korea Digital Innovation Flagship Project (KADIF) announced at the 2023 ASEAN-Korea Summit on the occasion of this event, and said that the establishment of HPC will create new opportunities for the ASEAN-Korea Digital Innovation Infrastructure Project, which did not exist before, and establish a digital cooperation model based on research functions.
In response, Lee Sik, the president of KISTI said, “We hope that this will contribute to strengthening the digital capabilities of ASEAN countries through the establishment of HPC infrastructure for the use of KISTI-ASEAN data and further lay the foundation for ASEAN-Korea science and technology cooperation.” Chairman of BRIN, Dr. Laksana Tri Handoko, stated, “This project, led by KISTI in collaboration with BRIN, will span four years and focus on three pillars: Infrastructure Development, Knowledge Platform, and Human Capital. We hope it will expand and enhance the research community in HPC, particularly in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian government, through BRIN, reaffirms its commitment to this partnership. We will ensure seamless collaboration between BRIN, KISTI, and ASEAN stakeholders, mobilize resources to sustain the HPC facility beyond the project’s duration, and promote inclusive access, enabling researchers across ASEAN to benefit from this infrastructure.”
* Korea-ASEAN Digital Innovation Flagship Project: Projects promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to strengthen ASEAN’s AI and digital capabilities (’24~’29, ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund total $30 million)
