Global Fujitsu Distinguished Engineer

Yuichiro Ajima

Message

I am currently working on supercomputer systems development. My technical areas of expertise are system architecture and interconnect. To present, I have been engaged in the development of the Fugaku and the K computer, and the PRIMEHPC series. In the development, I was in charge of the specifications for Fujitsu's Tofu Interconnect.

Achievements

Developed the system-wide interconnection networks for the K computer and Fugaku, contributing to improving the performance of applications in the broad area of supercomputing. Obtaind and holds the essenstial patent of the interconnect technology. Currently actively presents papers and talks at international conferences, and lectures at universities.

[Awards received]

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (a type of Japanese Medals of Honor), 2020 (Related Link)
• Science and Technology Award (Development Category) Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2017
• National Commendation for Invention, Imperial Invention Prize, 2014
• The Ichimura Prize in Industry for Distinguished Achievement, 2012

[Academic conference presentations and lectures]

• Japan
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2023, April 12). Fugaku Supercomputer System Overview and Expectations for Co-Packaged Optics Technology [Lecture]. 6th regular meeting of Co-packaging Optics Study Committee, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Miki, Atsushi & Ajima, Yuichiro (2023, January 27). Predictions and Challenges for Optical Packaging for Achieving Throughput over 100 Tb/s, in the Optical Packaging Technology Roadmap Working Group volume of High-Performance Computing, Optical Packaging Technology Committee, The Japan Institute of Electronics Packaging, pp. 28-36．
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, December 14). Supercomputers and Advanced Packaging Technology [Lecture]. SEMICON Japan 2023 Advanced Packaging and Chiplet Summit, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, November 22). Differences and Common Features between Networking Technologies in Supercomputers and Data Centers [Special lecture]. 1st Symposium of Council on Devices and Systems for Next-Generation Green Data Centers, Kawasaki, Japan.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, June 1). Utilization of Optical Transmission in Top-Level Supercomputers Including "Fugaku" [Invited paper], IEICE Transactions on Electronics, vol. J105-C, no. 6, pp. 200-206．
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, March 15). Trends in Supercomputer Interconnect Technologies Including Tofu Interconnect D in "Fugaku" [Lecture]. 2022 IEICE General Conference, electronics society requested symposium CI-8-1, online.
• International
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2023, February 19). High-Density, Energy-Efficient Interconnect Technologies Inside Supercomputers [Forum presentation]. 2023 ISSCC, San Francisco, CA, United States.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, June 2). Tofu Interconnect D of Supercomputer Fugaku and Future Prospects [Workshop presentation]. ISC High Performance 2022, Hamburg, Germany.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, May 12). System and Interconnect of the Supercomputer Fugaku [Keynote presentation]. International Conference on Electronics Packaging 2022, Sapporo, Japan.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro (2022, January 25). Optical connection of top-level supercomputers: current status and future expectations [Conference presentation]. SPIE Photonics West OPTO 2022, San Francisco, CA, United States.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro, et al. (2018) The Tofu Interconnect D. 2018 IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER) [Conference presentation], Belfast, UK.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro, et al. (2014) The Tofu Interconnect 2. 2014 IEEE 22nd Annual Symposium on High-Performance Interconnects [Conference presentation], Mountain View, CA, USA.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro, et al. (2014). Tofu Interconnect 2: System-on-Chip Integration of High-Performance Interconnect [Conference presentation]. ISC High Performance 2014, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro, et al. (2011) The Tofu Interconnect. 2011 IEEE 19th Annual Symposium on High Performance Interconnects [Conference presentation], Santa Clara, CA, USA.
  • Ajima, Yuichiro, et al. (2009) Tofu: A 6D Mesh/Torus Interconnect for Exascale Computers. in Computer, vol. 42, no. 11, pp. 36-40, Nov. 2009.

Value Creation

These technologies led to the realization of the K computer and Fugaku, which both took the top positions in renowned benchmark rankings. The K computer was the first to ever top each of the TOP500, HPCG, and Graph500 rankings. Fugaku also ranked first in the world for the newly established HPL-AI benchmark (now HPL-MxP), becoming the first supercomputer ever to top 4 rankings. In addition to the contributions of the K computer and Fugaku to society and scientific technology, they also contributed to improved brand awareness as the symbol of Fujitsu's technical prowess.