Japan builds world's fastest supercomputer

Japan's Vision Technology Corporation is developing the world's fastest supercomputer with a speed of 130 petaflops, meaning it can perform 130 quadrillion calculations in one second, 1 million times faster than a conventional computer.

The supercomputer is expected to be launched in April 2018. It is called ABCI (an acronym for Al Bridging Cloud Infrastructure) and costs $173 million.

Japan's ABCI supercomputer needs 1,000m2 of space2, equivalent to 30-40 car parking

By building the world's fastest supercomputer, Japan hopes to become the country with the world's leading artificial intelligence research center.

The supercomputer is expected to run at 130 petaflops, or 130 quadrillion calculations per second. Once completed (expected in April 2018), ABCI will be the most powerful supercomputer in the world, surpassing the current leader, China's Sunway TaihuLight, which is currently running at 93 petaflops.

The ABCI supercomputer doesn't need a mouse or a monitor, it's not much different from a personal computer, but it needs a large space, about 1,000 square meters, equivalent to the space for a 30-40 car park.

China's Sunway Tahulight supercomputer is currently the fastest in the world with a speed of 93 petaflops.

"Today's supercomputers are a million times faster than your personal computers," said Satoshi Sekiguchi, director general of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

Mr. Sekiguchi calculated that if a personal computer takes 3,000 years to do a job, a supercomputer will only take one day.

ABCI could help Japanese companies develop and improve driverless cars, robots and medical diagnostics. Small everyday inventions, such as diapers, are early applications of supercomputers that no one knows about, Mr. Sekiguchi said.

Currently, the world's fastest supercomputer is China's Sunway-TaihuLight. China uses supercomputers in weather forecasting, pharmaceutical research, and industrial design.
Second place belongs to Tianhe-2 also from China with a speed of 34 petaflops. Third place is Titan supercomputer from the US with a speed of 18 petaflops, fourth place is Sequoia supercomputer from the US with a speed of 17 petaflops and fifth place is Cori supercomputer from the US with a speed of 14 petaflops.

According to TPO