South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Wednesday it will designate additional sector-specific high-performance computing centres.

The ministry designated seven institutions as specialised centres in 2022, including Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency, the Korea Meteorological Administration, the Institute for Basic Science, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy. The specialised centres have built and operated sector-tailored computing resources and provided professional support, training and inter-institution resource links.

Demand is rising for large-scale computing resources centred on graphics processing units (GPUs) as the integration of science and technology with AI, including the K-Moonshot initiative, gains momentum. The ministry in June drew up an overhaul plan for the specialised centre designation system through the National High-Performance Computing Committee and moved to designate additional centres.

Institutions with sector expertise and high-performance computing capabilities can apply to be designated as specialised centres. The ministry will support specialised centres in building and operating sector-specific resources, joint use of resources, training specialist personnel and technology exchanges, and links to the Korea Research Environment Open Network (KREONET).

Newly designated specialised centres must provide user support and specialised services so that researchers can use computing resources suited to their fields. They will also take part in building a national system for joint use of computing resources that is being pursued this year. Specialised centres must secure computing resources that can be jointly used and build services that connect to the national joint-use system.

Applications for new specialised centres will be accepted until Oct. 12. The ministry plans to make final designations in December after a review and to operate the specialised centres for 2 years from January next year. The ministry will also hold a briefing session on the specialised centre designation system on Sept. 17 at the headquarters of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) in Daejeon.