KAUST's Shaheen III Named Most Powerful Supercomputer in Middle East
Shaheen III was also ranked 18th globally in the latest TOP500 list.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has unveiled 'Shaheen III', which has been ranked the most powerful supercomputer in the Middle East and 18th worldwide in the latest TOP500 list—the semi-annual global ranking that measures and compares the performance of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
The announcement was made during the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis in St. Louis, Missouri, held from November 16th to 21st.
The TOP500 list, released twice a year at the conference, serves as the industry’s primary benchmark for supercomputer capability and performance.
In October 2025, KAUST completed the receipt and transfer of ownership of the Shaheen III graphics processing units from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which helped design the system, in accordance with export licence requirements issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The university noted that the GPU component of the system is expected to become operational in early 2026.
