Name in original language
AI橋渡しクラウド基盤 3.0 (ABCI 3.0)
Initiative overview
ABCI 3.0 represents Japan's strategic response to growing global AI competition and the need for sovereign AI capabilities. As the third generation of ABCI infrastructure—first launched in August 2018—the system became fully operational in January 2025, providing unprecedented computing resources for AI development within Japan. In June 2025, ABCI 3.0 officially proved its status as Japan’s premier AI supercomputer by ranking 4th globally and 1st in Japan on the HPL-MxP benchmark, which measures mixed-precision AI computing performance. It also secured 15th place in the world (2nd in Japan) on the TOP500 list, reflecting its immense raw computational power.
The initiative addresses Japan's critical need to reduce dependence on foreign AI technologies while developing foundation models with deep understanding of Japanese language and culture. Built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise using NVIDIA's H200 Tensor Core GPUs connected via Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking, the system delivers peak performance of 6.22 exaflops in half precision and 3.0 exaflops in single precision—representing a 7 to 13 times improvement over the previous ABCI 2.0 system. As of May 2025, more than 60 R&D projects involving foundation models, LLMs, and multimodal AI were already active under its "Accelerated Use" program.
ABCI3.0 funded through METI's Economic Security Fund with an initial investment of ¥36 billion ($232 million). The infrastructure prioritizes resource allocation for public and strategic R&D purposes, particularly supporting national institutions, universities, and startups.
ABCI 3.0's mission has evolved from providing general AI infrastructure to focusing on cutting-edge challenges in sovereign AI development and supporting the domestic AI startup ecosystem. The system provides relaxed usage limits compared to previous versions, including increased node allocations and extended reserved durations, enabling larger-scale foundation model development. Looking ahead, ABCI 3.0 is a cornerstone for advancing "Physical AI"—integrating real-world data like 3D point clouds and sound into multimodal foundation models—marking the next frontier in Japan's strategy to enhance industrial competitiveness through sovereign AI technology.
