While the spotlight often shines on GPU specs and ray tracing, the actual architecture powering modern gaming, from cloud streaming to massive multiplayer backends, is quietly being defined by key players involved with the Open Compute Project (OCP). The OCP has officially opened its call for proposals for the 2026 OCP Global Summit and the co-located Future Technologies Symposium, inviting engineers and researchers to help shape the next generation of hyperscale infrastructure.
The 2026 OCP Global Summit runs from October 12–15, 2026, and is solely an in-person event in San Jose, California. This is the place for technical deep dives and collaborative discussions on work already accomplished within OCP Projects. Submissions should showcase the impact of OCP-recognized deployments, influence community standardization, or spotlight non-proprietary innovations ready to hit the market within the next 12 months. Commercial pitches or confidential information are strongly discouraged; the focus must be on reporting engineering or scientific results.
For those with a 2-5 year vision, the Future Technologies Symposium (FTS) takes place on October 14, 2026. The FTS is designed to bring forward-looking ideas and talent to the OCP community, aiming to solve future problems facing the industry. Submissions must be a two-page IEEE formatted paper (abstracts not accepted) in categories like AI/HPC (AI Hardware and cluster hardware/software design), DC Sustainability (product life cycles and cutting-edge materials), and other disruptive ideas like Quantum Technology. The FTS also offers a $10,000 US prize for the best paper.
This is a potentially impactful opportunity for professionals connected to gaming hardware and software to engage with the essential backbone of the industry. The evolution of large-scale AI hardware clusters, addressed in the AI/HPC track, directly impacts the performance of in-house development tools and the quality of generative AI that may be used in game production. Also, participation in OCP projects related to data center efficiency and advanced material science, which are topics in DC Sustainability, that provide a unique chance to influence the long-term cost and environmental footprint of global cloud gaming platforms and live service titles. Influencing the design of the server hardware is influencing the limits of what future games can achieve.
The submission period for both the Global Summit and the Future Technologies Symposium ends on Monday, June 15 at 11:59 PM PST. Pro tip: The Open Compute Project has also shared a blog post that offers tips that can increase chances of a successful speaking application.
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