The UAE has received its initial shipment of advanced AI chips from Nvidia, marking a significant milestone in its national AI strategy. These chips are essential for powering the country's growing supercomputing capabilities and accelerating the development of large language models. This delivery underscores the UAE's commitment to establishing itself as a global leader in AI innovation. Why it matters: This acquisition directly enhances the UAE's capacity for advanced AI research and development, solidifying its competitive position in the global AI landscape and fostering local technological growth.
G42 and the Government of India formalized a commercial framework for the deployment of Condor Galaxy India, an 8-exaflop AI supercomputing cluster comprising 64 Cerebras CS-3 systems. This agreement, witnessed by the UAE President and Indian Prime Minister, positions G42 to partner with India's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for installation and operations. The supercomputer is intended to be a foundational asset for India's sovereign AI ambitions and underpin joint R&D across health, genomics, energy, and geospatial analytics. Why it matters: This major infrastructure partnership significantly advances AI capabilities in India, deepens strategic ties between the UAE and India, and expands G42's global footprint in high-performance computing.
KAUST and Cerebras Systems collaborated on multi-dimensional seismic processing using the Condor Galaxy AI supercomputer, achieving record sustained memory bandwidth of 92.58 petabytes per second. They developed a Tile Low-Rank Matrix-Vector Multiplication (TLR-MVM) kernel to exploit the architecture of Cerebras CS-2 systems. This work was recognized as a finalist for the 2023 Gordon Bell Prize. Why it matters: This demonstrates the potential of AI-customized architectures for seismic processing, with broader implications for climate modeling and other scientific domains in the region and globally.
KAUST Ph.D. graduate Dr. Noha Al-Harthi and doctoral student Rabab Alomairy won the German Gauss Center for Supercomputing (GCS) Award for optimizing solvers for high-performance computing applications. Their work focused on acoustic boundary integral equations, common in engineering and fluid dynamics. The award provides them access to the supercomputer "Isambard" in the UK and other opportunities. Why it matters: This recognition highlights KAUST's leading role in high-performance computing research in the Middle East and the growing expertise in supercomputing among Saudi researchers.
UnitX, a KAUST spin-out startup focusing on cloud-based supercomputing, has secured $2 million in co-investment from the KAUST Innovation Fund and Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures Fund. UnitX aims to democratize supercomputing by partnering with institutions to make spare supercomputing capacity available via the cloud. The funding will support UnitX in helping enterprises leverage high-performance data analytics and AI at scale, particularly in underserved industry verticals in Saudi Arabia. Why it matters: This investment highlights the growing focus on AI infrastructure and supercomputing accessibility in Saudi Arabia, enabling broader adoption of advanced technologies across various sectors.
KAUST's supercomputer Shaheen completed ultra-resolution subsurface mapping simulations for Saudi Aramco, producing a 3D image of subsurface geologic layers at a 7.5-meter resolution. Aramco scientists used integrated GeoDRIVE software to achieve this record resolution at a production scale, improving on prior simulations with tens of meters resolution. Shaheen, located in the KAUST Supercomputing Core Laboratory, is one of the largest CPU-based supercomputers globally, featuring 12,348 Intel Haswell CPUs. Why it matters: This achievement enables more precise resource extraction and geological understanding in the Arabian Peninsula, demonstrating the growing capabilities of regional supercomputing for industrial applications.
KAUST announced the acquisition of a Cray XC40 supercomputer named Shaheen II, which will be 25 times more powerful than its current system. The investment aims to enhance KAUST's research capabilities and support collaborations with in-Kingdom organizations like Saudi Aramco and SABIC. Shaheen II will be used for simulations, climate modeling, and big data applications. Why it matters: This upgrade significantly boosts Saudi Arabia's high-performance computing infrastructure, enabling advanced research and development across various sectors and solidifying KAUST's position as a leading research institution.
KAUST and the King Salman Center for Disability Research (KSCDR) have signed an MoU to collaborate on the diagnosis, management, and treatment of disabilities affecting Saudi citizens and residents. The partnership will focus on neurodevelopmental conditions, learning disabilities, visual impairments, speech disorders, and mobility impairments. KAUST's Center of Excellence for Smart Health, launched on July 1, will be a key component, leveraging its supercomputing resources and genome sequencing capabilities. Why it matters: This partnership aims to address the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and disabilities in Saudi Arabia, aligning with national research priorities and improving the quality of life for people with disabilities.