The Committee on the Future of Supercomputing was tasked to assess prospects for supercomputing technology research and development in support of U.S. needs, to examine key elements of contextthe history of supercomputing, the erosion of research investment, the changing nature of problems demanding supercomputing, and the needs of government agencies for supercomputing capabilitiesand to assess options for progress. This interim report establishes contextincluding the history and current state of supercomputing, application requirements, technology evolution, the socioeconomic contextto identify some of the issues that may be explored in more depth in the second phase of the study.