Local Linear Convergence of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers for Semidefinite Programming under Strict Complementarity

We investigate the local linear convergence properties of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) when applied to Semidefinite Programming (SDP). A longstanding belief suggests that ADMM is only capable of solving SDPs to moderate accuracy, primarily due to its sublinear worst-case complexity and empirical observations of slow convergence. We challenge this notion by introducing a new sufficient condition for local linear convergence: as long as the converged primal–dual optimal solutions satisfy strict complementarity, ADMM attains local linear convergence, independent of nondegeneracy conditions. Our proof is based on a direct local linearization of the ADMM operator and a refined error bound for the projection onto the positive semidefinite cone, improving previous bounds and revealing the anisotropic nature of projection residuals. Extensive numerical experiments confirm the significance of our theoretical results, demonstrating that ADMM achieves local linear convergence and computes high-accuracy solutions in a variety of SDP instances, including those where nondegeneracy fails. Furthermore, we identify cases where ADMM struggles, linking these difficulties with near violations of strict complementarity—a phenomenon that parallels recent findings in linear programming.