4 years ago
The latest supercomputer developed by Japan's state-backed Riken research institute is the world's fastest for computing speed, according to a twice-yearly ranking announced Monday by the U.S.
European TOP500 project, marking the first time in nine years that a Japanese supercomputer has captured the top position.
The supercomputer, named Fugaku after Mt. Fuji,also took the top spot in three other categories that measured performance in computational methods for industrial use, artificial intelligence applications and big data analytics.
It is the first time that a supercomputer has topped the rankings in the four categories, according to Riken.
The Japanese supercomputer, which was jointly developed with Fujitsu Ltd. at the institute's facility in Kobe, forms a key foundation for powerful simulations used in scientific research and the development of industrial and military technologies.
"We were able to stand out in all the key specifications for supercomputers, and demonstrate it is the world's highest performing.
We expect it will aid in solving difficult societal problems such as the fight against the novel coronavirus," said Satoshi Matsuoka, the institute's computational science center director.
Shinichi Kato, president of Fujitsu IT Products Ltd., also expressed his delight, saying, "I feel extremely happy and honored to have been involved in creating Fugaku, which has ranked as the world's No.1 (supercomputer)." Fujitsu IT Products, a wholly owned unit of Fujitsu, was in charge of the production of the supercomputer.
Fugaku was picked as the world's No. 1 in June after performing over 415 quadrillion computations per second, around 2.8 times faster than the Summit system developed by the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which secured the top spot in the last ranking in November 2019.
Another supercomputer developed by the United States ranked No. 3, while China held both the fourth and fifth spots.
Fugaku was the only Japanese supercomputer to rank in the top 10, with the AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Chiba Prefecture ranking 12th.
