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Enhancing Japans AI sovereignty and strengthening its research and development capabilities, Japans National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) will integrate thousands of NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPUs into its AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure 3.0 supercomputer (ABCI 3.0). The HPE Cray XD system will feature NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking for superior performance and scalability.

ABCI 3.0 is the latest iteration of Japans large-scale Open AI Computing Infrastructure designed to advance AI R&D. This collaboration underlines Japans commitment to advancing its AI capabilities and fortifying its technological independence.

In August 2018, we launched ABCI, the worlds first large-scale open AI computing infrastructure, said AIST Executive Officer Yoshio Tanaka. Building on our experience over the past several years managing ABCI, were now upgrading to ABCI 3.0. In collaboration with NVIDIA and HPE, we aim to develop ABCI 3.0 into a computing infrastructure that will advance further research and development capabilities for generative AI in Japan.

As generative AI prepares to catalyze global change, its crucial to rapidly cultivate research and development capabilities within Japan, said AIST Solutions Co. Producer and Head of ABCI Operations Hirotaka Ogawa. Im confident that this major upgrade of ABCI in our collaboration with NVIDIA and HPE will enhance ABCIs leadership in domestic industry and academia, propelling Japan towards global competitiveness in AI development and serving as the bedrock for future innovation.

ABCI 3.0 is constructed and operated by AIST, its business subsidiary, AIST Solutions, and its system integrator, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

The ABCI 3.0 project follows support from Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, known as METI, for strengthening its computing resources through the Economic Security Fund and is part of a broader $1 billion initiative by METI that includes both ABCI efforts and investments in cloud AI computing.

NVIDIA is closely collaborating with METI on research and education following a visit last year by company founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, who met with political and business leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, to discuss the future of AI.

Huang pledged to collaborate on research, particularly in generative AI, robotics and quantum computing, to invest in AI startups and provide product support, training and education on AI.

During his visit, Huang emphasized that AI factories next-generation data centers designed to handle the most computationally intensive AI tasks are crucial for turning vast amounts of data into intelligence.

The AI factory will become the bedrock of modern economies across the world, Huang said during a meeting with the Japanese press in December.

With its ultra-high-density data center and energy-efficient design, ABCI provides a robust infrastructure for developing AI and big data applications.

The system is expected to come online by the end of this year and offer state-of-the-art AI research and development resources. It will be housed in Kashiwa, near Tokyo.

The facility will offer:

NVIDIA technology forms the backbone of this initiative, with hundreds of nodes each equipped with 8 NVLlink-connected H200 GPUs providing unprecedented computational performance and efficiency.

NVIDIA H200 is the first GPU to offer over 140 gigabytes (GB) of HBM3e memory at 4.8 terabytes per second (TB/s). The H200s larger and faster memory accelerates generative AI and LLMs, while advancing scientific computing for HPC workloads with better energy efficiency and lower total cost of ownership.

The integration of advanced NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand with In-Network computing where networking devices perform computations on data, offloading the work from the CPU ensures efficient, high-speed, low-latency communication, crucial for handling intensive AI workloads and vast datasets.

ABCI boasts world-class computing and data processing power, serving as a platform to accelerate joint AI R&D with industries, academia and governments.

METIs substantial investment is a testament to Japans strategic vision to enhance AI development capabilities and accelerate the use of generative AI.

By subsidizing AI supercomputer development, Japan aims to reduce the time and costs of developing next-generation AI technologies, positioning itself as a leader in the global AI landscape.

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Japan Enhances AI Sovereignty With Advanced ABCI 3.0 Supercomputer - NVIDIA Blog