The Middle East joins the global supercomputer competition

Al-Monitor Pro Members

David Rosenberg

Israeli reporter specializing in business, economics and politics

June 21, 2023

Long a laggard, the Middle East is now joining the global competition to amass supercomputing power. The latest entrant is Israel, where the US company Nvidia announced on May 29 that it would build a supercomputer using locally made high-performance chips. While most of the Middle East is not competing in the supercomputing race, Israel is one of a handful of countries that include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that have the high-tech aspirations, financial resources and/or local talent to be players. Iran has also built its own supercomputer with black market components. Given the important role supercomputers are playing in emerging technologies and scientific research, as well as their role in signaling a country’s high-tech prowess, more supercomputers will be coming online.