The worlds fastest supercomputer will be built in the US by 2021, the US Department of Energy announced today.
The machine, dubbed Frontier, will be built by chip designer AMD and supercomputer manufacturer Cray for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Its expected to produce more than 1.5 exaflops of processing power, and will be used for a range of tasks, performing advanced calculations in areas like nuclear and climate research.
Frontiers record-breaking performance will ensure our countrys ability to lead the world in science that improves the lives and economic prosperity of all Americans and the entire world, said Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in a press statement. Frontier will accelerate innovation in AI by giving American researchers world-class data and computing resources to ensure the next great inventions are made in the United States.
When constructed, Frontier should be the most advanced example of whats known as exascale computing. This is the next-generation of computing capacity, in which processing power is measured in exaflops, or quintillions of calculations per second. A quintillion is a one with a whopping eighteen zeros behind it: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.
To give an idea of the scale of this sort of machine, AMD says Frontier will have as much processing power as the next 160 fastest supercomputers combined. Itll be able to handle an astonishing amount of data, with a bandwidth 24,000,000 times greater than the average home internet connection, capable of processing 100,000 HD movies in a second. Itll also have a correspondingly huge footprint, taking up 7,300 square feet of space (roughly equivalent to two basketball courts) and containing 90 miles of cabling.
Frontier isnt the only exascale computer the US is currently building either. Earlier this year, the Department of Energy announced a similar project: the supercomputer Aurora, which is being constructed by Intel and Cray at Argonne National Laboratory. Aurora will likely be the first exascale supercomputer in the US, but Frontier will have greater processing power.
These machines dont necessarily mean the US is the worlds greater computing power, though. China is expected to have its own exascale supercomputer up and running by 2020 a year ahead of America. China is also the worlds leader in terms of supercomputer volume, and is currently home to 227 of the worlds fastest computers (compared to just 109 operated by the US). Japan and the European Union are the other main contenders.
The news is a particularly big deal for AMD, says Patrick Moorhead, semiconductor analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. The contract is worth $600 million and Frontier will use scores of AMDs EPYC CPUs, each connected to four of the companys Radeon Instinct GPUs.
The world of supercomputer chips is mostly in the hands of Intel, and AMD hasnt supplied the processors for the worlds fastest supercomputer since 2012, when AMD Opteron CPUs were used to push ORNLs Titan computer to a benchmark of 17.59 petaflops per second.
Moorhead told The Verge that the Department of Energy likely chose AMD for a number of reasons, including the performance of its processors, and its recent successes designing semi-custom silicon for Microsoft and Sony. This bodes well for AMDs future as this is technology that should be in the mainstream market after 2021, said Moorhead.
Link:
Worlds fastest supercomputer will be built by AMD and ...
- New Microsoft Ads Take Aim at Mac Pricing - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Adobe Flash Comes to TV - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Microsoft Introduces Windows 7 Starter Edition - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mac Viruses and Trojans Becoming More Prevalent - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Apple ‘Customer Experience’ Continues to Trounce PCs - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Seagate Introduces ‘Replica’ Drive to Backup Entire PC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Still Love XP? Run it on Windows 7! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is Microsoft Ditching Vista? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Kindle DX: Not Exactly a Textbook Killer - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Smart Shopper’s Guide to Buying a Wireless Router - May 19th, 2010 [May 19th, 2010]
- iTunes 10: So Long, Ringtone Creator - Thanks for the Memories - October 17th, 2010 [October 17th, 2010]
- iTunes 10: So Long, Ringtone Creator – Thanks for the Memories - February 14th, 2011 [February 14th, 2011]
- How to Make Your Laptop Last Longer - February 14th, 2011 [February 14th, 2011]
- Client Build 5 UPDATE: Personal Super Computer 2011 (SR-2 X5690 OCZ Vertex 3 GTX590 Nvidia Tesla) - Video - March 29th, 2012 [March 29th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer, Inc. Announces 3rd Quarter 2012 Financial Results - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer Q3 Profit Slips - Quick Facts - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Computer Maker Cray and Intel strike Partnership - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer Q3 12 Earnings Conference Call At 5:00 PM ET - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Herd mentallity and the information super highway - Video - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Brain vs. Computer - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Minecraft World First - Most wanted redstone device - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- PS3 Jailbreak Tutorial 4.11 WORKING - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- China's Tianhe-1 supercomputer begins operations - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- June 2011 TOP500 Review looks at Japan's K Supercomputer - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Super Vision for Soldiers - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- The Super Sonic Show Episode 0-Computer Help - Video - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Why Super Micro Computer's Earnings May Be Less Than Awesome - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Magnetic bacteria may help build computer hard drives - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure Kicks off PBS KIDS Summer Learning Initiative This June - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Tutorial SUPER COMPUTER girl 3750 sylvia Vs fem game 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER COMPUTER Wii best 3750 sylvia Vs learn chess 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER COMPUTER girls city 3750 sylvia Vs RYBKA 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- John Laban - Open University Super Computer Room - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Can A Super Computer Save Banking? Part 2 of 2 - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches Widest Range of UP Server Platforms Supporting Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v2 - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Debuts New X9 DP and 4-Way MP Platforms - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches Widest Range of Server Platforms Supporting Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v2 - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Invention kit for banana pianos, alphabet soup keyboards - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- A few errors could be key to super-efficient computer chips - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Highlights Latest GPU SuperServer®, SuperBlade® and ... - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Kontron HPEC Platform Chosen by Military Embedded Systems Magazine for Editor's Choice Award - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Raspberry Pi to rebirth an era of Woz-like super creativity? - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Taste and tale of success - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- 1 Reason to Expect Big Things From Super Micro Computer - May 25th, 2012 [May 25th, 2012]
- Bump's Super Popular App Just Got A Million Times Cooler With Its Latest Update - May 25th, 2012 [May 25th, 2012]
- Is The Computer 'Cloud' Compromising You Privacy? - May 26th, 2012 [May 26th, 2012]
- Super MP3 Download 4.8.2.6 - May 28th, 2012 [May 28th, 2012]
- Radiohead's Kid A and OK Computer, Now in 8-Bit - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- ASUS P6T7 WS Super Computer MoBo - Video - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- Photonic Super Computer 2012 - Video - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- Kaspersky discovers super-complex Flame malware - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Supermicro® X9 5x GPU SuperWorkstation Delivers Maximum Performance with NVIDIA Maximus Certification - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Super-virus Flame raises the cyberwar stakes - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Super-stealthy ‘Flame' computer virus spies on Iran - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Super-stealthy ‘Flame' computer virus spies on Iranians - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Was flame virus written by gamers? Code similar to apps such as Angry Birds - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Massive cyber attack on Iran came from U.S., report says - June 2nd, 2012 [June 2nd, 2012]
- Massive cyber attack on Iran came from US, report says - June 2nd, 2012 [June 2nd, 2012]
- Supermicro® Exhibits its Latest X9 Server and Storage Innovations at Computex, Taiwan - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Hadoop Solutions Accelerate Innovation with Launch of EMC® ... - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Super 57000 Video Game (Family Computer) - Video - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Security Cameras Turn into Super-Fast Sleuths - June 7th, 2012 [June 7th, 2012]
- Quantum computers move closer to reality, thanks to highly enriched and highly purified silicon - June 7th, 2012 [June 7th, 2012]
- Research Makes Ultrafast Quantum Computer Concept a Reality - June 9th, 2012 [June 9th, 2012]
- Supermicro's New Compact Embedded Server Appliance Supports 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 Processors - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- The PC which is truly personal: 'Computer' on a memory stick offers COMPLETE privacy for browsing and documents - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- 'Purified' silicon nudges quantum computing ahead - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- Apple serves up 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- Apple debuts next-gen MacBook Pro, iOS 6 - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- How to Invest Like the Super-Rich - June 13th, 2012 [June 13th, 2012]
- Super Computer for Sale - Video - June 13th, 2012 [June 13th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches FatTwin™ Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Computer Workstation utilizes NVIDIA® Maximus(TM) technology. - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches FatTwinâ„¢ Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Acer: Aspire S5, super-thin Ultrabook, coming to U.S. in late June - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Supermicro(R) Launches FatTwin(TM) Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Sheldon Adelson: 7 surprising facts about 2012's biggest donor - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- lego super computer - Video - June 17th, 2012 [June 17th, 2012]
- Age of Empires: The Conqurors - vsing Duke AI 1.6 - Super computer - Video - June 17th, 2012 [June 17th, 2012]
- Supermicro® FatTwin™ Takes Center Stage at International Supercomputing Conference 2012 - June 18th, 2012 [June 18th, 2012]