UAE: Access to supercomputers is no longer just a luxury for scientists; it’s becoming as vital to a country’s survival as food or energy security. This was the central takeaway from a new report released by the World Governments Summit, co-authored by Sia, titled, “Sovereignty and Supercomputing: How High-Performance Computing Is Redrawing the Map of Global Competitiveness.”

The report warns of a widening “compute divide,” a gap that will likely decide which nations lead the next century of innovation and which ones fall behind.

To understand this shift, the study took a hard look at nine major economies: Australia, China, the EU, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, the UAE, the UK, and the US. Rather than just looking at raw power, Sia researchers analyzed the "grit" of these nations' tech sectors; looking at everything from local talent and energy sustainability to how well their supply chains can withstand global shocks. The report also dives into the messy reality of export controls and the risks of relying too heavily on foreign cloud providers.

“We’ve reached a point where high-performance computing (HPC) isn't just a niche tool anymore. It’s a pillar of national security,” noted Dr Rafael Lemaitre, Partner of Sia, “Your ability to compute is now a structural part of how you protect your interests, grow your economy, and more important future proof-it”

“Sovereignty isn’t about chasing every tech fad,” Dr Lemaitre added. “It’s about making sure your country has the right tools, in the right places, to keep the lights on and the economy moving, no matter what happens globally.”

Three reality checks for the modern state

The report argues that high performance computing (HPC) is the new backbone of power. Advanced computing is what makes modern AI, complex simulations, and national modeling possible. Countries that own their own "super compute" can test solutions at home rather than renting technology from others.

It finds that high performance computing power is clumped in too few hands. Right now, a tiny group of regions controls the world’s most powerful systems and the chips that run them.

Finally, the report predicts that the next decade is the deciding factor. The choices governments make right now regarding energy and education will lock them into a path of either independence or deep dependency for years to come.

The Path Forward

The report doesn't just point out challenges; it offers a practical roadmap for "compute sovereignty." The goal isn't necessarily for every country to build everything from scratch, but to be smart about their dependencies. Key recommendations include:

  • Clarify mission-critical domains: identify the areas (such as AI, health, climate, and security) where sovereign or allied compute capacity is essential.
  • Invest in people, not only hardware: build HPC and AI talent pipelines in universities and technical institutes, strengthen interdisciplinary research, and create career paths that retain skills in the public and private sectors.
  • Plan compute together with energy and sustainability: locate major systems close to renewable-energy clusters, improve cooling efficiency, and integrate data centres and supercomputers into national grid and decarbonisation planning.
  • Strengthen governance and partnerships: define data-sovereignty and security requirements, align export-control strategies, and use public–private partnerships to mobilise capital and share risk while keeping clear public-interest guardrails.

Linked to the Summit’s broader theme of “Future Realities,” this report frames HPC as the ultimate tool for stress-testing policy before it goes live—helping leaders manage everything from climate disasters to the next pandemic.