Committees

Dr. Horst D. Simon is an internationally recognized expert in high-performance computing and computational science, with over four decades of experience in parallel algorithms and large‑scale numerical methods. After completing his Ph.D. in Mathematics at UC Berkeley, he held leadership roles across academia (Stony Brook, UC Berkeley), industry (Boeing, SGI), and national research labs (NASA Ames, Lawrence Berkeley Lab. At Berkeley Lab, he directed NERSC and served as Deputy Lab Director, earning two prestigious Gordon Bell Prizes and co‑editing the biannual TOP500 list of supercomputers. Since 2023, Dr. Simon has been the founding Director of ADIA Lab in Abu Dhabi, spearheading cutting‑edge research in computational and data science. He continues to advance scalable algorithms that address complex scientific and societal challenges.

Keynote

The HPC–AI Convergence: Accelerating Innovation in the Exponential Age

High-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) are no longer separate technological domains. They have converged into a mutually reinforcing ecosystem that drives exponential progress. Modern AI depends fundamentally on HPC architectures, parallelism, and system-scale optimization. At the same time, traditional HPC applications increasingly integrate machine learning and AI-driven models to enhance prediction, accuracy, and efficiency. This convergence is reshaping both fields and accelerating innovation across science, industry, and the digital economy.

This presentation traces the evolution of HPC from its origins in large-scale scientific simulation to its central role in enabling today’s AI revolution. It highlights how advances in semiconductors, large-scale data infrastructure, and algorithmic innovation have created a powerful feedback loop that fuels rapid capability growth. Landmark efforts such as the U.S. Exascale Computing Project and global benchmarking through the TOP500 reflect the extraordinary scaling required for modern AI workloads.

As computing demand grows at an exponential pace, sustainability and energy efficiency have become essential design considerations. Future progress will depend on novel accelerators, energy-aware architectures, hybrid cloud/HPC environments, and deeper co-design of hardware, software, and algorithms.

In the Exponential Age, the fusion of HPC and AI forms the computational backbone for scientific discovery, industrial transformation, and emerging digital economies. Sustained investment in this converged ecosystem is therefore imperative to shape and power the next generation of technological breakthroughs.