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October 28, 2010, 12:48 AM EDT
By Bloomberg News
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- China?s National University of Defense Technology may have designed the world?s fastest supercomputer with speeds 43 percent greater than previous systems, Nvidia Corp. said.
The university?s Tianhe-1A set a performance record of 2.507 petaflops, or more than 2 quadrillion calculations per second, Sumit Gupta, senior product manager for Nvidia, said on a conference call with reporters. That would make it faster than any system on the global Top 500 list of supercomputers published in June, Gupta said.
China is investing in supercomputers to improve research and simulation for climate modeling, genomics, alternative energy, seismic imaging and defense. Since China began investing in the technology in 2002, it has risen to third globally in overall high-performance computing power, trailing the U.S. and the European Union.
?They?ve basically recognized the fact that they need to invest in high-performance computing to continue to advance their technology, to continue to advance their research and science,? Gupta said. ?This is recognition that the United States had about 50 years ago.?
175,000 Laptops
The Tianhe-1A uses 7,168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 graphics processing units and 14,336 Intel Corp. chips. It is three times more power efficient than current systems, according to Nvidia.
The system, which is housed at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, has the computing power of 175,000 laptops, Nvidia said.
China had two of the top 10 computers on the June list, compared with seven for the U.S. The list will be updated next month.
The fastest computer on the current list is Jaguar, built by Seattle-based Cray Inc. and installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The Jaguar has clocked 1.75 petaflops in testing.
In June, China?s Nebulae, at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, took the No. 2 spot with a measured speed of 1.271 petaflops.
The U.S. has been replaced in the top spot for the fastest computer before, only to reclaim the position. In 2002, Japan claimed the No. 1 position with the Earth Simulator, Jack Dongarra, director of the innovative computing laboratory at the University of Tennessee, said last month.
He has overseen the semiannual Top 500 list since it first appeared in 1993.
--Edmond Lococo. With assistance from Brian Womack, Adam Satariano and Rachael King in San Francisco. Editors: Michael Tighe, Frank Longid
To contact the reporter on this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- China?s National University of Defense Technology may have designed the world?s fastest supercomputer with speeds 43 percent greater than previous systems, Nvidia Corp. said.
The university?s Tianhe-1A set a performance record of 2.507 petaflops, or more than 2 quadrillion calculations per second, Sumit Gupta, senior product manager for Nvidia, said on a conference call with reporters. That would make it faster than any system on the global Top 500 list of supercomputers published in June, Gupta said.
China is investing in supercomputers to improve research and simulation for climate modeling, genomics, alternative energy, seismic imaging and defense. Since China began investing in the technology in 2002, it has risen to third globally in overall high-performance computing power, trailing the U.S. and the European Union.
?They?ve basically recognized the fact that they need to invest in high-performance computing to continue to advance their technology, to continue to advance their research and science,? Gupta said. ?This is recognition that the United States had about 50 years ago.?
175,000 Laptops
The Tianhe-1A uses 7,168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 graphics processing units and 14,336 Intel Corp. chips. It is three times more power efficient than current systems, according to Nvidia.
The system, which is housed at the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin, has the computing power of 175,000 laptops, Nvidia said.
China had two of the top 10 computers on the June list, compared with seven for the U.S. The list will be updated next month.
The fastest computer on the current list is Jaguar, built by Seattle-based Cray Inc. and installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The Jaguar has clocked 1.75 petaflops in testing.
In June, China?s Nebulae, at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, took the No. 2 spot with a measured speed of 1.271 petaflops.
The U.S. has been replaced in the top spot for the fastest computer before, only to reclaim the position. In 2002, Japan claimed the No. 1 position with the Earth Simulator, Jack Dongarra, director of the innovative computing laboratory at the University of Tennessee, said last month.
He has overseen the semiannual Top 500 list since it first appeared in 1993.
--Edmond Lococo. With assistance from Brian Womack, Adam Satariano and Rachael King in San Francisco. Editors: Michael Tighe, Frank Longid
To contact the reporter on this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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