Issue #10: Supercomputer Fugaku starts full operations
Featuring an exclusive interview with Yann Le Guilly, CEO of zeteoh
Konnichiwa! I'm Alessandro, and this is TÉKUNI, a newsletter about technology in Japan. Here you can find the archive of past issues. If you’d like to support this project, you can buy me a virtual coffee here ☕.
Japan Quick Tech Update
A few important things happened in Japan in March in terms of technological advancements and setbacks.
At the beginning of the month, Mizuho - one of the country’s major retail banks - experienced a data glitch closing down about 80% of its ATMs across the country.
Fortunately, the glitch lasted only a day, with the bank restoring its systems and apologising to the public for its ‘insufficient’ response.
The other big tech story of the month related to Japan’s government investigation of messaging app Line, prompted by media reports showing how Chinese engineers could access Japanese users’ data without informing them.
SoftBank's internet business Z Holdings, who owns the app, said last week it would stop access to Line's user data from within China and cease storing user content in South Korea.
In other news, Japan’s supercomputer Fugaku - the world's fastest in terms of computing speed - started full operation this month, to aid in COVID-19-related research.
This issue of TÉKUNI is about Fugaku, and more generally HPC (high performance computing) in Japan.
👨💻 TÉKUNI Exclusive - Yann Le Guilly, zeteoh CEO
Yann Le Guilly is a machine learning engineer and co-founder and CEO of AI startup zeteoh.
Before the start of his entrepreneurial career, Yann studied physics and applied mathematics at the Université de Rennes I in France.
"Applied Mathematics is basically developing algorithms to compute complicated physical problems,” Yann explains. “Like simulating tsunami, the propagation of the sound in urban environments, etc. Many of those simulations are running on supercomputers.”
Yann also spent one year at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (東京工業大学) where he studied AI and particularly Reinforcement Learning in the context of complex networks.
"It’s a really fascinating topic and has lots of applications. You can think of it as an electric grid, or how the molecules of a medicine interact with your body. Those can all be considered as networks.”
As part of his research at the Institute, Yann had access to the Tsubame, the supercomputer designed by Tokyo Tech.
When asked about HPC, Yann said the term is quite vague, and generally refers to extremely powerful computers.
“Take Fugaku as an example, it’s basically 158,976 computers plugged together, each of them have a specifically designed CPU with 68 cores. Its total computational power is 442 PetaFLOPS (442E+15 FLOPS).
Yann mentions the PS5 CPU as a comparison. Sony’s latest console features roughly 800 GigaFLOPS (800E+9 FLOPS).
“Fugaku’s CPU is more than 500 million PS5 CPUs put together. The electricity bill is very salty!”
Talking about his past, the engineer says he was attracted to supercomputers since he was very young.
“Who wouldn’t be fascinated by a computer with thousands of CPUs?!,” he laughs. “More seriously, in human history, we had some biological (I mean evolutionary) and technological breakthroughs which allowed us to scale up our societies somehow.”
According to Yann, the scope of a lot of remaining issues is incredibly complex, and HPC is a technology potentially capable of finding a solution.
“So I would say my interest is a mix of geeky (can we say otakuness?) and civilizational.”
As part of his work at zeteoh, Yann is currently developing a deep learning model for smartphones.
“One day, I thought it would be great if I had a game which would reward me for my daily physical activities. But having to buy specific hardware or doing it in front of my TV isn't really adapted to my usage.”
So Yann thought about a smartphone app. A mobile RPG in which the player would have to run with their friends to increase their character’s level in order to defeat big monsters.
“Alas! There was no such game. And after researching, it appeared that there were actually no real technical solutions for game developers to build such a game. So I developed it.”
What Yann created was an SDK (software development kit) that provides everything game developers need to focus on their core domains and create interesting gaming experiences.
“Then, my partner Satomi and I co-founded zeteoh, which in ancient Greek means ‘I seek’. We extended our solution to insurance companies. If you are healthy it benefits them, so they want to encourage you to have regular physical activities.”
zeteoh’s SDK is based on Neural Architecture Search (AKA AutoML). This allows the team to optimise and deploy quasi automatically our models on IoT (like smartphones) but also micro-controllers. This is then called TinyML for tiny machine learning.
“We want to develop products which ‘enhance’ you,” Yann explains.
The machine learning engineer then mentions the defeat of Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster, by the ‘hands‘ of IBM computer Deep Blue in 1997. After the defeat, Kasparov helped to create a new form of playing called Advanced Chess.
“In this version of chess, each player is paired up with a computer. Combining their forces, AI and humans could reach an unimaginable level of play, even able to defeat supercomputers. We aim to create the same synergy applied to your health, job and all things which matter for you.”
Discussing HPC applications in Japan, Yann says that one very common usage is related to weather prediction.
“You have the typhoon and tsunami season here. Simulations on supercomputers are used to predict and alert people if necessary. Applications about genetics are also very common, as they require a lot of computational power.”
Commenting on Fugaku starting full operations, Yann says it’s an incredible achievement for Japan, which has now joined the exclusive club of countries making their own supercomputer.
“Fujitsu HPC and the teams behind Fugaku, it’s a double accomplishment. They not only designed, built and delivered the current most powerful supercomputer in the world, but this was done during the COVID-19 pandemic. This should reinforce the confidence of other potential customers outside Japan!”
Yann then mentions how, when he was a student in Japan, his lab was collaborating with the team headed Matsuoka Satoshi, who is now head of the Fugaku supercomputer project at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe.
Yann was not personally involved in the collaboration with Matsuoka but had regular meetings with them.
“One point that impressed me is how smart some of his students were. It’s always exciting to work with brilliant people! As for Matsuoka-sensei, I will never stress enough how ‘foreigner friendly’ he is. Take his Twitter account, for example. Most of his tweets are in English and very interesting. Japan would benefit from having more researchers like him.”
Finally, Yann commented on what he think Fugaku starting full operations will mean for Covid-19 and other areas of research.
“I’m aware of two projects related to Covid-19 and involving Fugaku. The first is a simulation shown on TV on the effect of the masks (fluid simulations). Another study aims at understanding the gene level of people who have a high risk of death due to covid-19.”
As for other types of simulation, Yann says he knows Fugaku is currently being used to predict tsunami in real-time, to execute more accurate meteorological calculations, and to perform cancer gene analysis.
“Essentially, it benefits research fields by providing an acceleration of some studies. And we also can expect byproducts from all the R&D done on the hardware and the software ecosystem. Very exciting times!”
❓ Want to find out more about the latest tech news in Japan?
🔗 Here is the newsletter’s link section:
Fukushima operator removes second set of spent fuel rods - Reuters
Tezuka fan plans tiny ‘powder’ computer for internal health - Asahi
Companies go high-tech in battle against food waste - Japan Today
Japan auto industry to support hydrogen project - NHK
The First Battery-Powered Tanker is Coming to Tokyo - IEEE Spectrum
Japan's govt. to make airports embrace renewables - NHK
Hitachi develops blockchain signature service - Japan Today
Super Nintendo World opens in Osaka - NHK
Regulator to ban TEPCO from restarting Niigata nuclear plant - Kyodo
Tokyo museum offers high-res experience - NHK
Mizuho blames switch to digital passbook for ATM outage - Kyodo
Rozetta bans staff from speaking foreign languages - Sora News 24
US pipelines could raise Fukuoka decontamination costs - The Mainichi
Japan scrambles jets to intercept Russian bombers - Reuters
Foreign flights into Japan restricted to 100 passengers - TimeOut
Nuclear plant vulnerable to unauthorized entry for 1 year - Kyodo
Japan commissions 8th Aegis destroyer - NHK
Travelers entering Japan will have to install location app - Sora News
North Korea missile alarms Japan ahead of Olympics - Reuters
Cyberattacks on Japanese virus control center rose in 2020 - Kyodo
Private mission to the moon now recruiting crew members - Grape
Pokémon have taken over trains on Tokyo’s Yamanote line - TimeOut
Virtual tour of Kyoto kimono shops lets you travel from home - Grape
Japan to set up office for 'flying vehicles' - NHK
Company develops life-sized reactionary anime girl hologram - Grape
Pikachu is now a DJ and he's remixing Pokemon melodies - TimeOut
Voice acting anime practice with a new smartphone app - Grape
Cherry blossom VR videos are incredibly soothing - TimeOut
Tablets Help Fishermen Keep Tabs on Their Catch - NHK
‘Floating’ toilet near Tokyo's Olympic stadium is stunning - TimeOut
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