UTM Leads Public Universities With Advanced AI Supercomputing Infrastructure

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has become the first public university in the country to have advanced High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure featuring Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), strengthening its capacity for large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation.

Its vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mohd Shafry Mohd Rahim said the infrastructure would strengthen the university’s AI research, learning and innovation ecosystem while providing an environment for local talent to develop competencies in line with technological advancements and industry needs.

“With this infrastructure, UTM is better positioned to provide the research, learning and innovation environment needed to produce a generation of AI talent equipped to meet the needs of industry and the country,” he said in a statement here today.

The infrastructure was launched yesterday during the Vice-Chancellor’s Gathering at UTM Kuala Lumpur as part of the university’s strategic efforts to establish an industry-grade AI computing ecosystem to support large-scale AI research and development.

Located at the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence (FAI), the facility houses the fastest GPU supercomputer among public universities, based on NVIDIA Blackwell architecture and capable of training and running large AI models with up to one trillion parameters, supported by a 400 Gbps InfiniBand network.

The system has processing capacity of up to 72 PFLOPS for training and 144 PFLOPS for inference, expanding UTM’s capabilities in areas such as Large Language Models (LLMs), computer vision and complex simulations requiring high computing power.

The facility also includes an AI Workstation Laboratory equipped with 120 AI desktop computers, enabling up to 120 students and researchers to develop and train AI models simultaneously.

It also provides access to an industry-grade computing environment, enabling students and researchers to develop high-level AI skills and gain hands-on experience with advanced AI technologies and hardware in line with industry needs.

The enhanced computing capabilities will allow researchers to develop AI-based solutions for national needs, including healthcare, smart manufacturing and systems based on local languages.

The infrastructure is also expected to strengthen UTM’s role as an AI research and innovation hub while expanding opportunities for strategic collaboration with industry, government agencies and research partners at the national and international levels.

The HPC GPU infrastructure is part of a RM20 million investment by the Ministry of Higher Education under Budget 2024 to support the establishment of FAI, Malaysia’s first faculty dedicated to artificial intelligence.

-- BERNAMA