Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has announced plans to build the world’s fastest supercomputer by next year.
The computer should be able to make 130 quadrillion calculations per second, using its processing capacity of 130 petaflops.
That would put it far above the current fastest supercomputer, China’s Sunway TaihuLight, which has a capacity of 93 petaflops.
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As Reuters reports, the computer is designed to give researchers a platform to help develop and improve technologies such as driverless cars, robotics, and medical diagnostics.
The project is expected to cost 19.5 billion yen ($173 million/£139 million), and is designed to revitalise Japan’s standing as an innovater in the tech sector.
Satoshi Sekiguchi, a director general at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, told Reuters: “As far as we know, there is nothing out there that is as fast.”
The new computerr, dubbed ABCI, an acronym for AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure, will also be used to further artificial intelligence, including “deep learning” technology.
That’s the same tech behind Google’s DeepMind AI, AlphaGo, which gained notoriety after beating South Korean Go professional Lee Seedol earlier this year.
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Let us know your thoughts on the supercomputer in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
