China might have achieved its supercomputing supremacy by not one but two exascale supercomputers. The two machines were developed at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, China, as per an anonymous of The Next Platform.
The computers which are named the Sunway “Oceanlite” system and the Tianhe-3, hit 1.3 exaflops at their peak. If the information turns out to be true, it would mark the first time a single supercomputer has hit the exascale threshold.
China achieving supercomputer supremacy
Exascale computers are capable of calculating a billion calculations in a second, otherwise called an exaflop. At the time of reporting, no other system has managed to hit this goal. However, the report might hint that China has achieved the feat, but wants to stay mum about it. This could be due to its cold relationship with the US.
Previously, a team of Chinese scientists claimed to have developed the most powerful supercomputer. The team said they achieved a new record in quantum computing that no other supercomputer has done before, not even Google’s supercomputer. The researchers claim their quantum computer was able to solve a problem with the help of 56 out of 66 qubits, which is the quantum equivalent of bits in a normal computer. This is a notch higher than Google’s Sycamore processor, which only packs 54 qubits.
Other supercomputers that created a buzz
Besides, Tesla also showcased its massive supercomputer to train its self-driving system. As per the figures released, it might sit on the fifth spot for the most powerful supercomputer in the world. Tesla said that it’s using its new computing prowess to train the Autopilot feature on its vehicles. Besides, it will also train the unreleased self-driving artificial intelligence systems.
Previously, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center dedicated Perlmutter, touted as one of the world’s fastest computers for AI to build the largest-ever 3D map of the observable universe. The 3D map is being constructed to study dark energy that’s pushing the expansion of the universe. The supercomputer will process data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to provide observations.
