A Latest Historical past of the World’s Quickest Supercomputers

For a few years, exascale was the supercomputing business’s Holy Grail. For the reason that first petascale (1015 FLOPS) pc entered operation in 2008, the US, China, Japan, and Europe raced to construct exascale supercomputers. 

Over the previous 15 years, numerous supercomputers have jostled for the highest spot, as supercomputer speeds have risen from single petaflop speeds to 2 exaflops. In recent times, US funding has given its newest supercomputers the title of quickest supercomputer. 

Data Center Information has been there each step of the way in which, monitoring modifications within the High 500 record, funding bulletins, and the development of latest supercomputers, together with different sector-related information.  

Take a look at our highlights of the previous 15 years of supercomputing: 

2024: IBM Quantum Laptop Goes On-line 

In April 2024, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and IBM unveiled the world’s first-ever IBM quantum pc on a college campus, six months after starting set up. College, researchers, college students and collaborators will have the ability to use the system to advance quantum computing analysis.  

Learn extra: IBM Quantum Laptop Goes On-line at College 

2024: Accelerating Quantum Supercomputing Analysis 

In January 2024, Quantinuum stated it could set up its H1 Collection ion-trap quantum computing know-how on-site on the campus of the Japanese nationwide analysis and high-performance computing (HPC) middle Riken. The quantum-supercomputer hybrid platform will assist a analysis program that Softbank, the College of Tokyo, and Osaka College are enterprise to develop instruments and functions to combine quantum computer systems with classical supercomputers successfully. 

Associated:Assessing the State of Quantum Data Centers: Guarantees vs. Actuality

Learn extra: Riken Accelerates Quantum Hybrid Analysis With Quantinuum Partnership 

2024: Coaching Trillion-Parameter Fashions 

Scientists from the famed Oak Ridge Nationwide Laboratory educated a one trillion parameter mannequin utilizing just some thousand GPUs of their Frontier supercomputer. They used simply 3,072 GPUs to coach the large giant language mannequin out of 37,888 AMD GPUs housed in Frontier. 

Learn extra: AI’s New Frontier: Coaching Trillion-Parameter Fashions with A lot Fewer GPUs 

2024: Europe Launches Exascale Supercomputer Bid 

Europe unveiled plans to launch its first exascale pc in 2024 to rival probably the most highly effective supercomputers on the planet. Jupiter will likely be housed on the Jülich Supercomputing Centre in Germany and is predicted to be able to one exaflop, or one billion-billion calculations per second. The price of constructing and working the supercomputer for six years is projected at €500 million ($545 million). 

Associated:A Historical past of Microsoft Azure Outages

Learn extra: Europe to Launch its First Exascale Supercomputer in 2024 

2023: Breaking the 1,000-Qubit Barrier 

In November 2023, Quantum startup Atom Computing created a 1,225-site atomic array in its next-generation quantum computing platform, making it the primary quantum pc to exceed 1,000 qubits. 

Learn extra: Atom Computing Quantum Laptop Breaks 1,000-Qubit Barrier 

2023: LLNL’s ‘El Capitan’ Exascale Supercomputer 

The two-exaflop El Capitan supercomputer was poised to develop into the world’s quickest supercomputer when it started development in 2023. The supercomputer is powered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Cray {hardware} and the most recent era AMD processors. 

Learn extra: LLNL’s El Capitan May Be World’s Quickest Supercomputer in 2024 

2022: Oak Ridge’s ‘Frontier’ Supercomputer 

The HPE-made Frontier supercomputer was named the world’s quickest supercomputer in 2022, placing the US again in first place. Frontier aimed for a theoretical 2 exaflops and was primarily based on the HPE Cray EX235a structure, outfitted with AMD EPYC 64C 2GHz processors with greater than 8.7 million cores. 

Learn extra: US Retakes Lead With World’s Quickest Supercomputer 

2020-2022: Fujitsu’s ‘Fugaku’ Supercomputer 

In 2020, Fujitsu’s ARM-powered Fugaku supercomputer took the lead because the world’s quickest supercomputer, beating out US and Chinese language rivals. The system, constructed by Fujitsu for Japan’s RIKEN Middle for Computational Science remained within the high spot till 2022. 

2019: Argonne’s ‘Aurora’ Supercomputer 

In 2019, Intel and the US Division of Power introduced plans to construct the nation’s first exascale supercomputer at Argonne Nationwide Laboratory by 2021. The supercomputer would use Intel Xeon processors and Cray {hardware} and develop into the primary high-performance computing system within the US that reaches exaflop velocity. 

Learn extra: Intel and US Power Division Plan Exascale Aurora Supercomputer by 2021 

2018: HPE’s Arm-Primarily based ‘Astra’ Supercomputer 

In 2018, HPE, the US Division of Power, and Sandia Nationwide Laboratories introduced a partnership to construct Astra, on the time the world’s largest ARM-based supercomputer. 

Learn extra: HPE and DOE Companion to Construct Largest ARM-Primarily based Supercomputer 

2018: Oak Ridge’s ‘Summit’ Supercomputer 

In 2018, the US unveiled Summit, a supercomputer designed by IBM and Nvidia. Summit is powered by the previous’s Energy 9 processors and the latter’s Tensor Core GPUs. Summit incorporates a distinctive structure combining HPC and AI computing capabilities. 

Learn extra: IBM, Nvidia Construct ‘World’s Quickest Supercomputer’ for US Authorities 

2017: DoE Reinvests in Exascale 

In 2017, the US Division of Power awarded $258 million in funding to 6 US tech firms in an effort to construct the nation’s first exascale supercomputer

Learn extra: Power Division Awards $258 Million to Develop Exascale Supercomputers 

2016-2018: Wuxi’s ‘Sunway TaihuLight’ Supercomputer 

Wuxi’s Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer was the high performer on the High 500 Supercomputers record in 2016. Sunway makes use of easy CPUs with out reminiscence caches however with its 10.6 million-plus processor cores divided into clusters of 65. 

Learn extra: Nvidia Makes Its Mark in High 500 Supercomputers Listing for Energy Effectivity 

2013-2015: China’s ‘MilkyWay-2’ (Tianhe-2) Supercomputer 

Between 2013 and 2015, China’s Milkyway-2 (Tianhe-2) had a future because the world’s quickest pc, rating within the high spot 5 instances. Clocking in at 33.86 petaflop/s Milkyway-2 has virtually doubled the efficiency of Titan, the earlier quickest supercomputer. 

2013: A New Supercomputer Efficiency Benchmark 

In 2013, it was reported that HPC thought leaders have been trying to develop a brand new benchmark for supercomputing, reflecting the necessity to higher correlate to computation and knowledge entry patterns discovered in lots of functions right this moment.

Learn extra: Trying Past Linpack: New Supercomputing Benchmark within the Works 

2012: DoE Invests in Exascale Supercomputing 

In 2012, the US Division of Power introduced funding for exascale supercomputing, awarding $62 million in contracts to advance “excessive scale” supercomputing. In the meantime, Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory broke floor on a brand new facility to accommodate its supercomputer imaginative and prescient. 

Learn extra: DOE Publicizes Funding for ‘Excessive Scale’ Supercomputers 

2012: Oak Ridge’s ‘Titan’ Supercomputer 

In 2012, Oak Ridge’s Titan supercomputer grew to become the brand new quickest supercomputer, unseating IBM’s Sequoia. Titan has 20 petaflops of computing energy, beating Sequoia’s 16.3 petaflops. 

Learn extra: Titan is New Champion of Top500 Supercomputing Listing 

2012: LLNL’s ‘Sequoia’ Supercomputer 

LLNL’s Sequoia supercomputer grew to become the quickest supercomputer in mid-2012, placing the US at pole place on the High 500 record for the primary time since 2009. 

Learn extra: Sequoia Supercomputer Places US Again Atop the High 500 

2011: Fujitsu’s ‘Okay’ Supercomputer 

In 2011, Fujitsu’s Okay supercomputer took the place of quickest supercomputer on the planet, reaching a benchmark of 10 petaflops. 

Learn extra: New High 500 Champ: The Okay Supercomputer 

2010: China’s ‘Tianhe-1A’ Supercomputer 

China’s Tianhe-1A supercomputer achieved 2.507 petaflops in 2010 and took the highest spot on the High 500 record, unseating the US Jaguar supercomputer. 

Learn extra: China’s Tianhe-1A Achieves 2.507 Petaflops 

2009: Oak Ridge’s ‘Jaguar’ Supercomputer 

In 2009, Oak Ridge’s Jaguar supercomputer unseated Los Alamos’ RoadRunner supercomputer, claiming pole place on the High 500 record. Jaguar posted speeds of 1.75 petaflop/s, beating RoadRunner’s 1.04 petaflops/s. 

Learn extra: Jaguar Bumps RoadRunner in High 500