The Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, congratulates the North Stars Team on winning the Merit Award at the APAC HPC-AI Competition 2025.
Entering the international HPC and AI arena, according to a news report by HPCwire.
The Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, congratulates the Thammasat University North Stars Team on receiving the Merit Award at the 8th APAC HPC-AI Competition 2025, as officially announced by HPCwire, a leading global supercomputing media outlet.
The HPC-AI Advisory Council organizes this competition in conjunction with NSCC Singapore, NCI Australia, and Firmus AI Cloud. It is the most recognized HPC and AI competition in the Asia-Pacific region.
π¨βπ»Members of the North Stars Team 2025
Students in the Bachelor of Science (Digital Technology and Innovation) program at Thammasat University.
- Watthipong Sankomfoo
- Attakorn Phothong
- Nattanon Keeratiwattapong
- Sukit Inpim
- Phattadon Sriin
- Pashara Sitthisom
- Chayatat Bunharn
Coach: Asst. Prof. Dr. Worawan Diaz Carballo
Co-coach: Tanathep Rochanapaiwong (Alumni of the Faculty of Science and Technology)
πCompetition Results
The 2025 competition results are reported by HPCwire as follows:
π Overall Winners
- Champion: National Tsing Hua University (YDT)
- Second Place (tie): NTU Taiwan & SUSTech Scout Regiment
- Third Place: NTHU (TODO), Monash DeepNeuron, NTU (Quasar)
π§ Merit Awards
- Teams receiving the Merit Award:
- Nanyang Technological University (HCP)
- National University of Singapore (11th Hour)
- Joint RIKEN team (Tokyo University of Science + TUAT + Shibaura Institute)
- Universiti Putra Malaysia (Team 2)
- Thammasat University (North Stars) β Our team!
π Track Winners
- Best HPC Performance: Moralistars w/ RIKEN (Japan)
- Best AI Performance: NTU Taiwan
- Excellent HPC / AI: Multiple teams from Japan, Taiwan, and China
π¬ Challenges of this year’s competition:
The 2025 competition requires optimizing two types of tasks:
π§ͺ HPC Track
NWChem Computational Chemistry
Must reduce computation time on multi-node CPU clusters using advanced profiling techniques.
π§ AI Track
DeepSeek-R1 671B reasoning model
Must maximize inference throughput on GPU systems using the SGLang framework.
Both tasks are open-source, research-level scientific workloads that are highly complex and require a deep understanding of architecture-specific tuning.
π 2024β2025 Competition Overview: The Fastest Growing Venue in the Region
- Significant Expansion of Team Number and Country Network
- 2024: ~45 teams from 8+ countries
- 2025: ~52 teams from 10+ countries
- This year’s competition features the most diverse number of countries since its inception.
- Japan Rises Again in 2025
- Increased from 2 teams β to over 15 teams
- Many teams are officially working with RIKEN.
- These are the key reasons for the unprecedented intensity:
- New countries entering the APAC HPC-AI arena
- In 2025, new players include:
- India (Indian Institute of Science β 3 teams)
- Sri Lanka (University of Peradeniya β 3 teams)
- Indonesia (Telkom University)
- Expanding the scope of competition beyond the original region.
- Strength of top Asian universities
- In 2025, teams from high-level institutions will participate, such as:
- National University of Singapore
- Australian National University
- Peking University
- NTHU, NTU Taiwan
- Significantly increasing the difficulty of AI tasks
- Llama-2 (2024) β DeepSeek-R1 with 671B parameters (2025)
- Significantly increasing the complexity of distributed inference and GPU optimization.
πΉπ The Role of ThaiSC β A Key Force in Thailand’s HPC Ecosystem
The Faculty of Science and Technology expresses its gratitude to ThaiSC, the NSTDA Supercomputer Center (ThaiSC), one of the National Science and Technology Infrastructure (NSTI) agencies of NSTDA, for its continued collaboration with the Faculty for eight years. ThaiSC has consistently supported the country’s HPC ecosystem, playing a vital role in preparing Thai students for the APAC stage. The continued success of the team from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, is a clear result of this collaborative ecosystem.
π― Reflection from the Coach β βSuccess comes amidst the most intense competition.β
2025 will be a year of fundamental change in the competitive landscape. More teams, more countries, and more world-class institutions will participate than ever before.
But what remains unchanged is the effort and learning of our students.
Thammasat students have demonstrated that they can proudly stand on a stage competing against NUS, ANU, NTU, NTHU, Monash, and teams supported by RIKEN.
This success underscores the value of practical learning in the Faculty of Science and Technology and the true potential of Thammasat students.
β€οΈThank you for all the support:
- The administrators and staff of the Faculty of Science and Technology
- The HPC Ignite project
- ThaiSC β National Supercomputer Center
- Co-coach and alumnus Mr. Thanatep Rojanaipaiwong
- All the students who gave their all in the competition.
βοΈThe Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, will continue to produce high-quality human resources in science and technology to drive the country forward in the digital age.
