ISC 2025: Hitting the Big 4-0

Join the HPC, AI and QC communities in June to explore the future of performance-centric computing

Partner Content Are you ready for ISC High Performance, the premier European event dedicated to high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing (QC)?

This year, these three communities will come together to explore the future of performance-centric computing. The event is set to draw an audience of 3,500 attendees from around the world to Hamburg, Germany, from Tuesday, June 10, to Friday, June 13.

If you are a researcher, HPC professional, engineer, data scientist, AI specialist, industry representative, software developer, government policymaker, business and marketing professional, student, IT journalist or analyst, then this gathering should be on your must-attend list!

ISC 2025 Program Chair, Professor Torsten Hoefler of ETH Zurich, regards 2025 as the year of "extreme scaling." He says we are witnessing scaling across diverse areas of interest, spanning from traditional HPC paradigms to emerging generative AI trends, including large language models, agent-based systems, reasoning frameworks, and quantum computing systems, pushing the boundaries of computational capability. Coincidentally, the theme of this year's event is "Connecting the Dots."

The conference program has been crafted with input from the HPC, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing (QC) communities with the goal of providing a comprehensive understanding of how these technologies are coming together and reshaping the computational landscape. Besides foundational topics such as system architecture and hardware components, programming environments and system software, attendees can expect discussions on HPC technologies powered by AI, digital twins, high-performance data analytics, large language models and generative AI in HPC, integration of quantum computing and HPC, and quantum computing use cases.

Here is the complete list of topics.

More reasons to attend

This year, the conference is celebrating its 40th anniversary and will feature a strong representation from European research organizations, policymakers, and vendors within the EU HPC ecosystem, including EuroHPC, European laboratories, and academic institutions.

Additionally, the ISC exhibition will support technical discussions with the participation of 185 exhibitors and co-exhibitors. Among them, 46 companies specialize in quantum hardware, software, and services, while 64 exhibitors focus on machine learning and AI solutions. This highlights the increasingly synergistic relationship between these technologies.

The conference will begin at 9am on Tuesday, June 10, with the Opening Keynote delivered by Mark Papermaster, AMD's Chief Technology Officer. His presentation, titled "A Path Towards Sustainable Innovation," will explore the convergence of HPC and AI, emphasizing the shared need for energy-efficient computing at scale. With over 40 years of engineering experience in microprocessors, mobile devices, and high-performance servers, Mark's insights are sure to set an inspiring tone for the event.

The discussions on sustainability and energy efficiency will continue throughout sessions and on the exhibit floor. For example, on Wednesday, June 11, the organizers are introducing a new interactive format called "Walking Talk," hosted by Professor Wu Feng, co-founder of Green500. In this session, attendees will walk with Professor Feng to exhibitor booths that focus on sustainability and energy, facilitating candid conversations about their products and solutions.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will provide plenty of opportunities to connect with global and European vendors, start-ups, and research organizations through various formats and sessions mentioned in this list. 

Tailored for every wallet

For those of you who like your conference experience up close and personal, the organizers have introduced interactive birds-of-a-feather (BoF) sessions this year. Many of the topics will be held as roundtable discussions to encourage greater participant engagement.

For those who prefer more intimate and focused discussions, ISC has something for you as well. It offers structured networking opportunities, such as panel discussions, long coffee breaks, and fully catered lunches. These arrangements facilitate deeper conversations among attendees, allowing them to connect with peers and thought leaders. It's worth noting that more than half of ISC attendees do not participate in any other HPC events because they value the extensive networking opportunities at ISC.

The organizers have developed a unique structure to accommodate varying needs, recognizing that not everyone can attend all sessions due to time and resource constraints. If you are attending ISC for the first time or have a limited budget, we recommend the exhibition pass. This pass grants access to the show floor, the opening reception, the TOP500 session, the Closing Keynote, all BoF sessions, all poster sessions, and the "HPC Around the World" sessions.

If your goal is to gain knowledge on specific topics, consider the tutorial pass, which also provides access to workshops! Since the tutorials and workshops will take place on the same day, Friday, June 13, you will benefit from both hands-on interactive learning and in-depth conversations with domain experts and project leaders.

Don't miss out! Early-bird registration, which offers significant savings, ends on April 23.

Contributed by ISC Group.