Exchange in Scientific Computing (ESC)

Abstract

Recent performance gains in supercomputing are being outpaced by soaring power consumption, especially in leadership-class supercomputers. AI infrastructures face similar challenges, with large language models driving energy demands to critical levels. In response, data centers are expanding their power and cooling capacities, adding further to their global environmental footprint. The need for improved energy efficiency in computing has never been more urgent. Have we already reached a critical tipping point, or can innovation drive a more sustainable future? This talk explores the latest advances and examines strategies for balancing the growing energy demands of advanced computing with environmental responsibility.

Dieter Kranzlmüller is full professor for Computer Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, and chairman of the board of directors of the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ), an institute of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is a board member of the national Gauss Center for Supercomputing (GCS), on the senate of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), and the founding convent of the Interdisciplinary Transformation University Austria (IT:U). His research interests concern data center management and operation, high-performance computing and AI, quantum computing, and future computing technologies.