Japan is building the world's most powerful supercomputer

With a computing capacity of 130 petaflops, AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure (ABCI) will be the world's most powerful supercomputer, surpassing both of China's top supercomputers.

IBM supercomputer.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has personally called on the country's scientists, businesses and officials to join forces to advance in the fields of robotics, renewable energy and other new industries.

Within that framework, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will spend 173 million USD to start construction of the world's most powerful supercomputer project. The project will be launched early next year.

Japan is now very interested in artificial intelligence, specifically “deep learning” technology. The country has at least one supercomputer dedicated to analyzing medical data, helping to develop new types of services and applications in this field.

The new supercomputer could be used to improve the self-driving car industry through traffic analysis and automated optimization in manufacturing plants.

The new supercomputer will also be used to advance Japan’s economic and political agenda. Japan was once a technological leader but has lost that position to South Korea and China.

The Japanese government hopes the new supercomputer will help it regain its position as the world's number one industrial power.

The bidding process for the new supercomputer project is currently underway and will end early next month. Japanese companies can access the new supercomputer if they pay a fee. Previously, when there was a need, Japanese companies had to use supercomputers from Google or Microsoft.

Currently, the world's most powerful supercomputer is China's Sunway Taihulight with a computing capacity of 93 petaflops, used for weather forecasting, pharmaceutical research and industrial design.

According to VNN