Science & TechnologyPriority2025-12-09

Inaugural Supercomputing India Summit 2025

Why focus: GS3 S&T — sets up How-Many-Correct MCQs on National Supercomputing Mission nodal agencies and petaflop capacity metrics.

In News

What Happened

India's first-ever Supercomputing India Summit (SCI 2025) was held from December 9 to 13, 2025, at the Manipal Institute of Technology in Bengaluru. Organized by C-DAC under the National Supercomputing Mission, the event brought together global and domestic leaders to officially launch NSM 2.0. The summit charted a roadmap to integrate High-Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Quantum Computing into a single unified architecture.

Why It Matters

This marks a critical shift for India from being a mere consumer of global supercomputing technology to becoming a primary designer and manufacturer. By unifying HPC, AI, and quantum infrastructure, India aims to build sovereign capabilities that will secure critical sectors, drive advanced deep-tech research (like drug discovery and climate modeling), and achieve strategic autonomy in a highly contested global tech landscape.

Background

History & Context

The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) was launched in 2015 with an outlay of ₹4,500 crore to achieve self-reliance in high-performance computing. It is jointly steered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Initially, India focused on assembling imported systems locally, but over time, implementing agencies C-DAC (Pune) and IISc (Bengaluru) transitioned to domestic design, successfully deploying 37 supercomputers with a combined capacity of 40 Petaflops by late 2025. In parallel, the Union Cabinet approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) in April 2023 with a ₹6,003.65 crore budget to develop intermediate-scale quantum computers (50-1000 physical qubits) over eight years. Recognizing that siloed technological missions were inefficient, policymakers and committees like the NQM Mission Governing Board (MGB) stressed the urgent need to converge these digital assets to prepare for exascale computing.

What Changed

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Launch of NSM 2.0 (The Path to Exascale): India officially shifted its focus from assembling imported supercomputer parts to building a sovereign exascale computing ecosystem through domestic design and manufacturing.
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Unified HAQ Architecture: Replaced the siloed approach to deep-tech with a unified compute backbone that integrates High-Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Quantum computing.
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Deployment of PARAM Rudra Series: Commissioned specialized 'Rudra' servers, which are India's first fully indigenously designed and manufactured HPC servers matching international standards.
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Academic-Industry Compute Alliances: Signed 11 new Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) across universities to establish hands-on board-level learning labs utilizing domestic VEGA-powered processors.
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Expansion of Sovereign Infrastructure: Announced the upcoming deployment of a massive 30-Petaflop supercomputing node in Bengaluru, consisting of over 3,000 servers, significantly upgrading the national compute capacity.
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Acceleration of NQM Thematic Hubs: Formally operationalized four specialized Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) across premier IITs and IISc to rapidly transition from theoretical quantum research to practical quantum-chip fabrication.

What Did NOT Change

Despite the strong push for complete indigenization, India continues to rely on strategic partnerships with global semiconductor giants (like AMD, Intel, and Fujitsu) for cutting-edge processor components and advanced silicon fabrication. Furthermore, the core institutional drivers—C-DAC and IISc—remain the primary nodal agencies, maintaining their central roles without any disruptive structural overhaul of the mission's governance.

Prelims Angle

NCERT Connection

Class 12 Physics (Chapter 14: Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits) and Class 11 Physics (Chapter 15: Communication Systems). The summit's focus on indigenous server components (like the Rudra servers) and quantum communication networks (such as Quantum Key Distribution) builds directly upon the foundational principles of semiconductor logic gates and digital signal transmission taught in NCERT. Understanding classical p-n junctions and logic circuits is the essential prerequisite to grasping how advanced quantum bits (qubits) operate in superpositions.

Common Misconceptions

✗ Quantum computing will eventually replace classical High-Performance Computing (HPC) completely.

✓ Quantum and classical supercomputers will work synergistically; classical HPCs will handle standard data management and large-scale AI modeling, while quantum processors will act as accelerators for specific complex tasks like molecular simulation and cryptography.

Sci-fi and simplified media headlines often present quantum technology as the ultimate successor to all current computers, ignoring its highly specialized and fragile nature.

✗ The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is handled solely by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

✓ The NSM is a joint initiative co-steered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Because 'science' and 'research' are the primary use cases for supercomputers, students often overlook the critical IT infrastructure and electronics manufacturing mandate overseen by MeitY.

✗ A 'Petaflop' measures the storage capacity of a supercomputer.

✓ A Petaflop is a metric of processing speed, representing one quadrillion (10^15) floating-point operations per second.

Students often confuse 'flops' (Floating Point Operations Per Second) with 'bytes' (like Petabytes or Terabytes), which measure storage space.

Practice Questions

Q1

How Many Correct

Consider the following statements regarding India's advanced computing initiatives: 1. The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is jointly implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). 2. The newly deployed 'PARAM Rudra' supercomputers are built entirely using imported hardware components to ensure global compatibility. 3. The Supercomputing India Summit (SCI 2025) formally launched a unified architecture integrating HPC, AI, and Quantum computing. How many of the above statements are correct?

Q2

Match the Following

Match the National Quantum Mission (NQM) Thematic Hubs (List I) with their designated host institutions (List II): List I (Domain) A. Quantum Computing B. Quantum Communication C. Quantum Sensing & Metrology D. Quantum Materials & Devices List II (Institution) 1. IIT Bombay 2. IISc Bengaluru 3. IIT Delhi 4. IIT Madras / C-DOT Select the correct code:

Q3

Assertion & Reason

Assertion (A): The overarching strategy presented at SCI 2025 advocates for integrating Quantum processors as accelerators alongside classical High-Performance Computing (HPC) rather than building completely standalone quantum frameworks. Reason (R): Quantum computers are highly efficient at parallel processing for routine tasks like database management and web hosting, making classical computers obsolete in these areas. Select the correct answer:

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