IBM has most powerful 200 Petaflop supercomputer and will sell same architecture commercially

Oak Ridge National Labs has unveiled the 200 petaflop Summit supercomputer. The USA has retaken the world’s most powerful computer. They have smartest artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer and reached a major computing milestone.

The USA has the best supercomputer for the first time since 2013, when China introduced the 34 PetaFLOP NUDT Tianhe-2 and then in 2016 the 93 petaFLOP Sunway TaihuLight.

It is capable of performing 200 quadrillion calculations per second — or 200 petaflops — making it the fastest in the world.

Summit is also optimized for AI in a data-intense world. They designed a whole new heterogeneous architecture that integrates the robust data analysis of powerful IBM Power CPUs with the deep learning capabilities of GPUs. The result is unparalleled performance on critical new applications.

This project has always been about pushing the boundaries of innovation and technology to solve what was previously unsolvable. They make connections and predictions that will help us advance cancer research, understand genetic factors that contribute to opioid addiction, simulate atomic interactions to develop stronger, more energy efficient materials, and better understand supernovas to explore the origins of the universe.

IBM is making the same architecture that powers Summit available in commercial form. Clients are already using the same hybrid architecture in our business product line with the IBM Power Systems AC922 system, and the family of new IBM POWER9-based servers. The result: business computing that can help every industry advance their products and services, from banking, to healthcare, to retail, to transportation.