KAUST Now Operates the MENA Region’s Most Powerful Supercomputer

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is now home to the MENA region's most powerful supercomputer after setting the new Shaheen III system into operation.

Hailed as the 20th most largest supercomputer worldwide, the processing power of the six-times faster Petaflop machine exceeds half a million MacBooks combined, opening immense modeling potential. The installation takes the institution's capabilities up a notch by allowing faster creation across disciplines, including in Life Sciences and other technologically-heavy disciplines.

Two-thirds of KAUST's researchers currently engage with supercomputing. Shaheen III is expected to deepen that further and fuel scientific discovery and engineering design in addition to furthering national priorities.

The phase-by-phase rollout will see full programming by 2024, supporting objectives from combustion to bioinformatics.