Behold: the fastest supercomputer ever!

The fastest supercomputer is officially online. Then why and what can the device do?

Computers, they can no longer be ignored. Now the next step has been taken with regard to supercomputers. The Perlmutter supercomputer went online in America and has been specially developed for artificial intelligence, among other things.

Fastest supercomputer

The device is housed at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center in California. The company Nvidia developed the supercomputer and they say it is the fastest computer ever when it comes to processing 16- and 32-mixed phase math. This is used in artificial intelligence. The company explains: “The supercomputer will tackle some of the most difficult scientific challenges in astrophysics and climate science, such as creating a 3D map of the universe and investigating subatomic interactions for green energy sources.”

The supercomputer is powered by no less than 6,159 Nvidia A100 Tensor Core GPUs (graphics processing unit). The Tensor Core is the most advanced GPU that Nvidia has developed to date. This computing power makes Perlmutter the largest GPU system in the world, according to Nvidia. It can handle nearly a trillion operations per second. Okay okay. Impressive, but what can you do with that?

What can it do?

Researchers will mainly use the supercomputer. They will use this to create the largest 3D map in the universe. With a 3D map of the universe, researchers can learn more about dark matter. Which would presumably be responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe. And perhaps also of its origin.

The plan is to make the system available to more than 7,000 researchers worldwide. The supercomputer will also be used to investigate interactions at the atomic level. This is to develop better batteries and new biofuels, for example. That could be a breakthrough. Now let’s wait and see if the supercomputer can live up to the high expectations.