Japan Launches ABCI 3.0 AI Supercomputer

A National Leap Toward AI Sovereignty

In late 2024, Japan introduced the next evolution of its national AI infrastructure: the AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure 3.0 (ABCI 3.0). Developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), this project represents Japan’s most ambitious investment yet in sovereign, high-performance AI capacity. Funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the platform is set to become fully operational in January 2025.

This initiative is part of a broader national strategy to maintain global competitiveness in artificial intelligence, particularly in response to the growing dominance of large-scale generative AI in the United States and China. ABCI 3.0 is built to serve academic researchers, government institutions, startups, and private sector developers seeking scalable infrastructure to train and deploy advanced AI models.

Unmatched Technical Power for AI Research

At the core of ABCI 3.0 is a supercomputing system designed specifically for the needs of modern AI development. It delivers extraordinary processing speed, memory performance, and data capacity for complex tasks.

Key features include

•  Over 6,000 NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core GPUs deployed across more than 760 high-performance nodes

•  Over 6.22 exaflops of compute power for AI workloads and 3.0 exaflops for single-precision operations

•  Built on the HPE Cray XD architecture and integrated with Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking for high-speed interconnectivity

• Enhanced storage capacity and input-output bandwidth optimized for large-scale generative model training, robotics, and simulation

ABCI 3.0 ranks among the most powerful publicly accessible AI computing platforms globally and will significantly accelerate Japan’s AI research and innovation output.

Strategic Collaboration and National Access

Japan’s ABCI 3.0 initiative is not just about infrastructure. It is also about building an ecosystem that supports long-term digital independence and research excellence.

Core elements of the initiative include

•  A government-backed collaboration between AIST, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and NVIDIA
•  Open access for accredited startups, public institutions, and academic labs, promoting local innovation and knowledge sharing
• Strategic use cases in healthcare, robotics, environmental science, and Japanese-language model development

By making such infrastructure broadly accessible, Japan ensures its research community and technology sector are equipped to develop the next wave of AI solutions at home.

Supporting Innovation Across Sectors

ABCI 3.0 will play a central role in supporting Japan’s AI ecosystem. It provides a secure, domestic alternative to foreign cloud platforms while nurturing local talent and driving experimentation across sectors.

This infrastructure has already attracted interest from universities, corporate research labs, and public programs focused on AI safety, generative content, and autonomous systems. Japan is positioning ABCI 3.0 as the digital backbone of its AI future.