World’s fastest supercomputer


RIKEN has taken on the challenge of developing the world’s fastest and most efficient supercomputer.

The computer is to boast a performance of 10 petaflops (that is, 1016 floating-point operations per second) in a general-purpose, compound configuration. RIKEN is to jointly develop the supercomputer with three major manufacturers, Fujitsu Corp., NEC Corp., and Hitachi Ltd, and if all goes according to plan, the new machine will be in operation by 2012.

The supercomputer will be a compound general-purpose configuration, and the project will incorporate the integrated development of both supercomputer and software. The system will feature both a scalar and a vector section, and it will incorporate cutting-edge technology, including 45 nm semiconductor processes and optical interconnection, to achieve compact size and relatively low electric-power consumption for a computer of this capability.　

RIKEN will act as project headquarters for the academic–industrial collaboration. When complete, the supercomputer facility will be opened up for use by academic, industrial, and governmental bodies for everything from basic research to commercial applications. Its general-purpose nature will allow it to be used in a wide range of fields of scientific research, from life sciences to nanotechnology.

The project was instigated on orders from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, to develop the “world’s leading general-purpose supercomputer and the software to use it”. The Ministry also called for the establishment of the world’s most advanced supercomputing Center of Excellence, with the new supercomputer at its center. The Next-Generation Supercomputer R&D Center was established by RIKEN in January 2006.