What is Hangang? South Korea unveils a $276 million supercomputer with 614.7 petaflops of computing power
South Korea has launched its sixth national supercomputer, named Hangang, equipped with nearly 8,500 Nvidia GPUs and a theoretical peak computing performance of 614.7 petaflops, as the country steps up efforts to strengthen its artificial intelligence and scientific research capabilities, according to The Korea Times report.
Named after the Han River that flows through Seoul, Hangang is designed to support advanced AI workloads alongside traditional high-performance computing tasks, including weather forecasting, vehicle crash simulations and other complex scientific calculations, the report said.
The launch ceremony was held on Monday at the headquarters of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) in Daejeon, around 140 km south of Seoul.
The event was attended by nearly 200 representatives from industry, academia and government research institutions, The Korea Times reported.
The supercomputer has been developed at a cost of 382.5 billion won (approximately $276 million) by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and KISTI.
It replaces the country’s fifth-generation supercomputer, Nurion, which was deployed in 2018.
The new system marks a significant upgrade in South Korea’s high-performance computing infrastructure. Nurion, its predecessor, had ranked 11th globally when it was introduced in 2018 and supported 1,730 research projects during its operational lifespan.
Those projects resulted in 1,520 peer-reviewed research papers, including 70 published in internationally recognised journals such as Nature, Science and Cell, according to The Korea Times.
Hangang packs 8,496 Nvidia GPUs, 9,936 CPUs
Hangang is equipped with 8,496 graphics processing units (GPUs), including Nvidia’s GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips, alongside 9,936 central processing units (CPUs).
The system has a theoretical peak computing performance of 614.7 petaflops, meaning it can theoretically perform 614.7 quadrillion calculations per second. This represents a 24-fold increase in computing power over Nurion.
It also offers 10 times the storage capacity and four times the network transfer performance of its predecessor, making it better equipped to process massive datasets and support complex AI applications, the report said.
Unlike traditional supercomputers primarily designed for scientific simulations and calculations, Hangang has been built to handle the growing computational demands of modern machine learning and AI research.
It will continue supporting applications such as vehicle crash simulations and real-time weather forecasting, while expanding capabilities in AI-driven scientific research.
South Korea eyes global top 10 ranking
South Korea expects Hangang to secure a position in or near the world’s top 10 supercomputers in the upcoming Top500 rankings, which track the performance of the world’s most powerful computing systems, as per the report.
The supercomputer is also expected to play a key role in the government’s K-Moonshot initiative, which seeks to deploy advanced AI models to address major scientific and technological challenges.
The system entered a pilot testing phase in late October, with full operational services scheduled to begin on December 16.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, KISTI President Lee Sik said the institute would draw on its experience in operating supercomputers to ensure stable functioning and provide researchers with high-quality technical support.
