Nigeria’s tech ecosystem absent in $117.8bn global HPC market

• EMs, dev’g countries among top growth drivers 2018-2021

• Morocco tops African countries fast deploying the infrastructure

BEN EGUZOZIE 

Nigeria’s tech ecosystem with its high level Africa topping smartphone user penetration is remarkably falling short in the global deployment of high performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, whose market worth will hit $117.8 billion by 2032, according to a new report by The Business Research Company (TBRC).

High performance computing, which is characterised by its capacity to analyse data and perform complex computations at remarkable speeds, is at the forefront of technological innovation.

According to The Business Research Company, the HPC market is experiencing strong growth.

Emerging Markets (EMs) and developing countries are among the top three growth drivers of HPC from 2018 to 2021 with robust economic growth in developing countries during the historic period supporting the demand for high-performance computing. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said emerging markets and developing economies collectively registered a growth of 4.5 percent in 2018, increasing to 6.1 percent in 2021.

Others are increases in the number of data centres. The scalability offered by data centres accommodates the growing computational demands of HPC applications. The increasing government investments also played a pivotal role in supporting the HPC market’s growth during the historic period. Allocated funds bolstered research and development efforts in HPC technology, enhancing the capabilities and performance of HPC systems.

For Nigeria, little hardly happened on HPC deployment during the period under review. Another research-based report by Muhammed Daudu, University of Maiduguri in 2015 indicated that HPC infrastructure was quite lacking in Nigeria; and could be a key enabler to engineering design in the country if effectively deployed. It noted that Nigeria was “fast coming behind, and Tanzania on their heels. A number of African countries are also quietly deploying the infrastructure”.

Morocco, with its supercomputing centre established in March 2021, tops a number of African countries deploying the HPC infrastructure. In cooperation with countries with supercomputers, including South Africa and the Rwanda-based African Centre of Excellence in Data Science, Morocco is believed could help in developing pan-African models through an African lens.

Recently, the African Development Bank’s (AfDB’s) Infrastructure Development Index awarded Seychelles top points for Africa’s best infrastructure development. Seychelles is followed by Egypt.

Though Nigeria tops the African continent in smartphone user penetration, this has particularly not translated equally in HPC infrastructure deployment, which must involve good government sector investment.

In particular, the Business Research Company report said the global high-performance computing market soared to a value of nearly $47,086.1 million in 2022, exhibiting a rapid compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.0 percent since 2017.

The market is poised to continue its upward trajectory, projected to reach $69,172.7 million by 2027 at a growth rate of 8.0 percent. Further accelerating, a robust CAGR of 11.2 percent is expected from 2027, culminating in a market value of $117,849.6 million by 2032, the report added.

Market-trend-based strategies in the HPC market include the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise HPC systems, an emphasis on hybrid GPU computing infrastructure for energy optimisation, the integration of supercomputers into technical computation environments, the provision of high-performance cloud solutions for AI development, and the deployment of open-source Industrial IoT solutions with micro PLCs, the report said.

Major players in the high-performance computing market have adopted strategies such as launching new product offerings through collaborations and partnerships, as well as enhancing operational capabilities through the introduction of innovative product solutions.

The report further indicated that the HPC market is notably concentrated, with the top 10 competitors constituting 43.7 percent of the total market share in 2022. Leading the pack, Dell Inc. holds a 7.3 percent share, followed by Lenovo, Fujitsu, Atos, Cisco, NVIDIA, Amazon Web Services, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Sugon, Inspur, and NEC Corporation.