As per the Top500 rankings, it’s the U.S. with its supercomputer Frontier. However, some experts have their doubts. Read on!
In May 2022, Top500 rankings released their list of the fastest (and most efficient) supercomputers in the world right now. While China boasted the majority, it was the U.S. that came out on top with the fastest supercomputer in the world. American supercomputer Frontier became the first to demonstrate the performance of one quintillion (i.e. a billion billion calculations) operations per second during a set of standard tests that researchers use to rank the supercomputers.
It was revealed that Frontier, built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was over twice as fast as Fugaku, the second-fastest supercomputer in the world, and faster than the next seven most powerful supercomputers in the world combined.
Here’s a closer look at Frontier, and whether its credentials are genuinely warranted.
What is the Frontier?
It is a supercomputer comprising 74 cabinets. Each of these cabinets is 8,000 pounds (ca. 3,629 kg) heavy, which is similar to the weight of a pick-up truck. After all, for supercomputers to be effective, they need to be big. This US$600 million machine requires 6,000 gallons (ca. 22,712 L) of water per minute to cool down. As impressive as it sounds, its making wasn’t an easy feat. Its builders also felt the wrath of the global supply chain crisis when it came to acquiring components.
Besides being crowned the fastest supercomputer in the world, it was also titled the most energy efficient one on the Green500 list. However, given its high water consumption, it remains to be seen how that plays out in the long run. Supercomputers are notorious for their energy consumption, giving rise to environmental concerns.
Why do supercomputers matter?
Supercomputers are slowly becoming a part of our everyday lexicon, with people across industries talking about this technology. But what makes it so crucial? Mainly, the possibilities presented by its high data processing power. The makers of Frontier believe that the supercomputer will have a significant role to play in studying Covid-19’s impact. Plus, it can help with the world’s transition to cleaner energy sources, cancer research and more.
What’s more? Some supercomputers have already taken up the task of delving into Covid-19 research. For instance, in 2020, in Japan, the Fugaku supercomputer was utilized to study Covid-19’s spike protein. Particularly, the supercomputer was used to understand how the virus behaves, its transmission, drugs effective against it and how to produce vaccines. According to the Director of Riken Center for Computational Science—the center behind Fugaku—Satoshi Matsuoka, on Fugaku’s predecessor, the K computer, “this calculation would have taken days, weeks, multiple weeks”. Fugaku completed it in three hours.
Ultimately, supercomputers are important because of the role they play in enabling us to solve complex problems. As we enter an era where data is becoming increasingly central to how we function as a society, it’s only natural that these machines will become even more integral.
Is America genuinely home to the fastest supercomputer?
Some experts are skeptical. Until last year, Fugaku was the fastest supercomputer in the world. This year, Frontier took the throne. However, some believe that this year’s results are not accurate. Citing political tensions between the U.S. and China, some experts believe that the latter did not submit its machines to be ranked. Many think that China still holds some supercomputers that could easily defeat Frontier. However, since the country wants to avoid American intervention, it is keeping its machines away.
Whether China is hiding something or deliberately keeping its machines away from ranking institutions is difficult to ascertain. Till we have a definite answer, the real champion of the supercomputer world will remain a mystery.
Also read:
- Meet the World’s Top 10 Most Powerful Supercomputers
- How Supercomputers Are Affecting the Environment
- Why Computers Can’t Master Human Language -for Now
Header Image by Flickr
