Supercomputers Market

Market Overview

The global supercomputers market size was valued at USD 6 billion in 2021. It is expected to reach USD 12 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 9.6% over the forecast period (2022–2030).

The demand for supercomputers is expected to grow, leaving organizations to manage their complex and large data sets and analytics workloads. Until the recent past, supercomputers were limited to large organizations. However, supercomputing is increasingly becoming more accessible and cost-effective for educational research institutions. Also, increasing the democratization of the computing capacity through access sharing of the resources through cloud-computing-enabled platform-as-service models is expected to augment the market further.

Market Dynamics

Global Supercomputers Market Drivers

Increasing Demand for Higher Processing Power

A lot of data needs to be maintained and analyzed by businesses trying to examine this data to assist their decision-making. There is also a need to maintain a competitive edge by end-users. For instance, a pharmaceutical company that can deliver medication more promptly will experience increased earnings. Multiple enterprises lack higher processing power and tools to analyze this vast data. Therefore, firms that use much data are making much better decisions. The industry under study is driven by the rising need for more effective data management and decision-making processing power.

Furthermore, applications such as computed tomography (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the medical field require quick, accurate, and high processing units resulting from complex algorithms' processing. Supercomputers help them reduce the compute time considerably and process the CT and MRI data quickly and accurately. Therefore, the increasing need in various fields for faster data processing with high accuracy and processing is one of the significant factors driving the growth of the studied market.

Increasing Investments in Research and Development

Research related to the military and defense is being funded by the Department of Defense in the United States. Additionally, they have finished a sizable amount of work on supercomputers, primarily supporting a joint urgent operational requirement from the US Transportation Command. The project looks at ways to dramatically reduce the risk associated with airlifting COVID-19 passengers while utilizing the air force for aircrews and medical personnel. Additionally, it uses specialists to conduct analyses of the airflow and droplet distribution inside an aircraft using computational fluid dynamics. Several research funding projects are fueling the demand for supercomputers.

The BFSI industry's collaboration with many vendors on research projects and automation deployment drives the supercomputer market's growth. For instance, in July 2020, Red Hat and Nvidia joined Borealis AI, the Royal Bank of Canada's AI research division, to create an AI computing platform to enhance customer banking. The partners may combine Red Hat OpenShift and Nvidia's DGX AI processing systems in a private cloud that can execute thousands of simulations and analyze millions of data points in less time, allowing breakthrough smart applications to be brought to market faster.

Global Supercomputers Market Restraint

High Initial Setup Cost

Despite several benefits of supercomputers, the dynamic growth of the studied market faces the challenge of high setup costs initially. The pricing depends on the supercomputer's capabilities and can even reach the ballpark figure of USD 5 million or much higher. For instance, the cost to construct the Fugaku supercomputer developed by Fujitsu and Japan's national research institute Riken has amounted to USD 1 billion over six years. It is believed that the cost would have been three times higher if standard CPUs had been employed. The users are therefore charged significant large sums to break even and recover the infrastructural cost of the supercomputer.

Furthermore, other than the initial setup costs, supercomputers have high operational costs, which restrain the deployment of the systems across all sectors. The purchasing price and the further operating cost of a supercomputer can bill several US million dollars per year. Such significant funds are accessible to research organizations with complete support in financial aid, governments keen on leveraging the benefits, and multinational enterprises that can afford such costs without running dry. The high cost has been attributed to the restricted use of supercomputers in several end-user industries owing to the unaffordability of the one-time setup cost and recurring operational costs despite the willingness to install them. The challenge is being addressed by various vital vendors indulging in introducing affordable supercomputers for mass commercial use. Such factors hinder the market growth.

Global Supercomputers Market Opportunities

Increased Adoption of Supercomputers in the Weather Forecasting Industry

Supercomputing is considered a key contributor to the weather forecasting industry. With technological innovation, supercomputers are expected to have excellent performance and low power consumption. Since sustainability is becoming the cornerstone of all sectors, supercomputers are expected to go green without significant trade-offs between power and performance. Several efforts are already made on this front and are expected to influence the market's outlook during the forecast period.

For instance, South Korea's official meteorological agency, the Korean Meteorological Administration, forecasts and warns of bad weather and researches climate change to inform government policy. KMA leverages the National Center for Metrological Supercomputer (NCMS), the largest supercomputer in Korea, supporting vital weather and climate forecasting for this purpose. Such applications are anticipated to drive market growth.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific Dominates the Global Market

By region, the global supercomputers market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.

Asia-Pacific accounts for the largest market share and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period. The Asia-Pacific has been a region rapidly growing in terms of technology. Countries such as China and Japan are majorly responsible for the rapid growth of supercomputing systems in the Asia-Pacific region. As of June 2021, over a third more of the world's 500 most powerful supercomputers are located in China than in the United States (which accounted for an additional 122). About 60% of the world's most powerful supercomputers are in either country. The Chinese government's commitment to invest USD 22.15 billion in AI research by 2020 and USD 59.07 billion by 2025 is a significant industry driver. The plan aims to position China as a market leader in AI in driverless technology, consumer AI applications, telemedicine, and bio-pharmacy. It is expected to create enormous potential for developing higher-capacity supercomputing systems.

North America is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.5%, generating USD 3.2 billion during the forecast period. North America has been one of the largest markets for technology-based solutions. It is also expected to be a strong player in the global economy, especially in developing and implementing new and powerful technologies. The massive increase in data and the need to quickly analyze this vast amount of data for multiple purposes has been driving the implementation of new and advanced systems, thereby leading to the deployment of supercomputers. One of the significant factors responsible for the demand is the increasing investments in R&D activities.

The European region is also committed to supporting the research and innovation for new supercomputing technologies, systems, and products and fostering the necessary skills to use the infrastructure and build a world-class ecosystem in the region. Supercomputing has been one of the vital digital domains where the EU's investment is due to a significant increase in the Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027). The entire budget of the new MFF stands at EUR 1.1 trillion. In addition, supercomputing is expected to play a critical role in Europe's path of recovery as it has been identified as a strategic investment priority. Multiple companies operating globally, like Atos, IBM, etc., are investing in the region due to supporting government initiatives. For instance, in November 2020, Atos announced a supercomputing system at Forschungszentrum Jülich, named JEWELS, officially one of the fastest supercomputing platforms in Europe.

Segmental Analysis

The global supercomputers market is segmented by the end-user industry. 

By end-user industry, the global supercomputers market is segmented into commercial sectors, government entities, and research institutions. 

The commercial industries segment accounts for the largest market share and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period. Commercial sectors are adopting supercomputers as these are more cost-effective and save a lot of time regarding task management. The manufacturing sector is also employing supercomputers for various purposes. For instance, in June 2021, Hexagon demonstrated that using Fugaku, one of the world's fastest supercomputers, can accelerate innovation by opening the possibility of completing complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations that were earlier time-consuming and expensive. The company's Manufacturing Intelligence section highlighted how simulation could be used to study next-generation electric vehicle and aircraft performance. Using modern semiconductors, producers can examine reality with less than half the energy and at a quarter of the cost of current simulation methods, fueling the market growth.

Governments worldwide have acknowledged the necessity for supercomputers due to their increasing relevance in current crisis circumstances. Another significant aspect is competition and security. Electronic warfare tools and advanced defensive systems are also developed using these supercomputers. Furthermore, government organizations of developing nations, such as China, India, and Southeast Asia, are also increasingly investing in building supercomputers. India has launched the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) to improve the research capabilities in the country by connecting them to form a supercomputing grid, with National Knowledge Network (NKN) as a backbone. The NSM has been setting up a grid of supercomputing facilities in research and academic institutions throughout the country. Such initiatives drive market growth.

A significant portion of supercomputer adoption is owed to research institutes utilizing supercomputers to analyze large data sets and conduct experiments. Genomic analysis, clinical trial simulation of drugs, molecular dynamics, and medical imaging are a few significant applications that have experienced an expedited adoption of Supercomputer capabilities. For instance, the University of Miami invested in a USD 3.7 million IBM supercomputer named Triton to evolve its program on AI and be more competitive in the grant process. Since President Trump allocated USD 1.2 billion for quantum information development in the 2020s, more research institutes may favor supercomputers. Biotechnology companies and researchers are increasingly leveraging supercomputing capabilities to understand sophisticated biological processes better to develop new drug therapies. Moreover, they are being used for improving healthcare services via personalized medicines. As biology becomes a digital science, supercomputing technologies are vital for medical research, epidemiology, bioinformatics, and biomedicine.

Recent Developments

• August 2022 - Intel's collaboration with Aible enables teams across crucial industries to leverage artificial intelligence and deliver immediate and measurable business impact. This deep collaboration, which includes engineering optimizations and an innovative benchmarking program, enhances Aible's ability to deliver rapid results to its enterprise customers. When paired with Intel processors, Enable's technology provides a serverless-first approach, allowing developers to build and run applications without having to manage servers, and build modern applications with increased agility and lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
• July 2022 - With its agreement to acquire Aspire Technology Unlimited Company (Aspire Technology), with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) has further increased its capacity to deliver End-to-End Open RAN ecosystems, along with system design and integration for legacy networks, to operators globally. The organization is a pioneer in technological solutions and specialized system integration (SI). It possesses exceptional expertise in designing and integrating open networks, which is essential for the effective global adoption of open RAN 5G.
• June 2022 - The ICE6 technology from Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) and NEC Corporation (NEC: TSE: 6701) was deployed by Neutral Networks for its brand-new transnational neutral fiber optic network. It was the most significant project of its kind in the region over the past 20 years, thanks to the companies' strong collaboration in designing the most considerable optical network renovation between Mexico and the United States. The NEXT network from Neutral Networks will offer high-capacity services and set the foundation for future growth in the area, thanks to Infinera's ICE6 800G coherent technology.