Japan’s Fugaku Is The World’s Fastest Supercomputer, Searches For Coronavirus Treatment

For the first time in nine years, Japan is taking the lead when it comes to ranking the world’s fastest supercomputer. Developed by Riken and Fujitsu, the Fugaku system took the IBM off the top, which previously held the top spot in the Top500 in 2019.

Installed at the Riken Computer Science Center (R – CSS) in Kobe, Japan, the Fugaku system is the successor to the K computer, which was previously named the world’s fastest supercomputer in 2011. According to Top500, the new Fugaku achieved a LINPACK (software library) score of 415.5 petaflops, which is 2.8 times faster than its biggest competitor, Summit of IBM, which reached 148.6 petaflops. Powered by Fujitsu’s 48-core A64FX SoC, the Fugaku also became the number one supercomputer using ARM processors. In addition, on HPCG, Fugaku reached 13,400 teraflops using 138,240 computer nodes, and on HPL-AI (Convergence of High Performance and Artificial Intelligence), the system reached 1,421 exaflops, which is the first time a computer has achieved an exacerbation of any list, using 126,720 computer nodes.

Ready to be fully operational by April 2021, Fugaku’s development is part of a national plan to help address social and scientific issues, including finding a cure for Covid-19. The new supercomputer is already being used to simulate research into how the virus is spreading. Along with helping with the current global health pandemic, Fugaku will also be used in areas such as natural disasters, weather and climate change, drug detection, and clean energy development.

In addition to top the Top500, the Fugaku has also been named the best by HPCG and Graph500, making it the first time in history that a supercomputer has won all three awards simultaneously.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *