“Compute refers to applications and workloads that require a great deal of computation, necessitating sufficient resources to handle these computation demands in an efficient manner.” 
Compute-intensive applications stand in contrast to data-intensive applications, which typically handle large volumes of data and as a result place a greater demand on input/output and data manipulation tasks.
The term compute is frequently encountered in the server and data center space as well as in cloud computing, where infrastructure and resources can be ideally constructed to efficiently handle compute-intensive applications that require large amounts of compute power for extended periods of time.
The exploration and production of natural resources by companies both large and small is a significant driver of HPC systems in the industry. Exploration and production (E&P) companies use high performance computing to interpret seismic data to locate new deposits and calculate the yields. Engineers and designers use clusters for modeling, design and collaboration of plant and production design automation.
An HPC system is an ideal platform for running financial related applications. Financial applications require the processing of huge volumes of data. Financial simulations are necessary tools in determining estimated risk and formulating the company’s best course of action. An HPC system provides valuable assistance in risk analysis, market analysis, high-frequency and securities trading, securities valuation and other related areas of finance.
The impact of high performance computing cannot be understated for its assistance in public safety matters and is deployed in local, regional and national applications. Public safety is broad in scope and includes such practices as healthcare, first responders (EMS, fire and law enforcement), weather patterns and warnings, transportation, corporate and educational campuses, energy and disaster preparedness and recovery.
Engineering disciplines, including industry, academia and government, comprise one of the largest segments in the high performance computing market. Engineers benefit from high performance clusters in nearly all areas through creating computational solutions to practical engineering problems.
The study of life sciences drives improvement and enhances the well being of our society. Life science generally refers to practices that make use of informatics to delve deeper into secrets of living organisms. The deployment of high performance computing in these endeavors helps overcome demanding analytics, modeling and simulation.
The continued growth of HPC in academia is driven by the use of high performance computing by governmental and corporate entities. Academic research is not limited to specific fields and often compels continued research by corporations. Computational sciences are broad in scope and encompass many disciplines.