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A 93-Petaflop computer? Yup, that’s China’s new superbeast

When it comes to supercomputers, the most popular model that leaps to mind is 2012’s Cray Titan, with a staggering amount of computing power – clocking in at 17.59 petaflops.

That model was quickly dethroned as the fastest supercomputer a year later, and for almost three years China’s NUDT Tianhe-2 reigned supreme. Well, it too,  has just lost its title.

The Chinese-created Sunway TaihuLight leaves the NUDT Tianhe-2 in the dust, accomplishing tasks three-times faster, tipping the clocks at an almost-unfathomable 93 petaflops. One struggles to explain in words just how fast that is.

According to Top500, a new locally developed ShenWei processor and custom interconnect are powering the machine. The main use of the system will be research and engineering work, in various fields including climate, weather & earth systems modelling, life science research, advanced manufacturing, and data analytics.

The world-record holder was created by the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology (NRCPC), and if the name rings a bell, it’s because this is the same company that made the Sunway BlueLight system – a 796-teraflop supercomputer.

Prof. Dr. Guangwen Yang told Top500 that this proves that China still be a world leader in supercomputers.

“As the first number one system of China that is completely based on homegrown processors, the Sunway TaihuLight system demonstrates the significant progress that China has made in the domain of designing and manufacturing large-scale computation systems,” Yang said.

In case you were wondering, here are the top 10 super computers in the world currently:

supercomputer
[Via: Wikipedia]
[Image – CC by 2.0/Brian J. Matis]

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