A Japanese supercomputer called Fugaku, installed in the city of Kobe by the government-sponsored Riken institute, took first place in a twice-yearly speed ranking that was released on Monday.
The Japanese machine carried out 2.8 times more calculations a second than an IBM system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which Fugaku bumped to second place in the so-called Top 500 list.
Fugaku also attained top spots in other rankings that test computers on different workloads, including Graph 500, HPL-AI, and HPCG. No previous supercomputer has ever led all four rankings at once.
I installed the contact tracing app for #COVID-19 on my Smartphone. Simulation on #Fugaku indicates we need 60% distribution for effectiveness. I encourage people in Japan to install to protect yourself & save lives. It was pro reviewed to be privacy safe. https://t.co/p2xWyvOJlR
— Satoshi Matsuoka (@ProfMatsuoka) June 22, 2020
The Top500 list, compiled by researchers in the United States and Germany, is being released to coincide with a supercomputing event that is ordinarily held in Frankfurt but that is going virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
