China Overtakes The U.S. In Supercomputer Rankings

The TOP500 organization started compiling rankings of the most powerful supercomputers in the world 24 years ago. In all that time, the United States only fell out of the list of the top three most powerful supercomputers only once. The latest biannual list of most powerful supercomputers has now been released by the TOP500 organization. This marks the second time that the United States has been out of the top three.

The list of the top three most powerful supercomputers in the world is now made up of two Chinese supercomputers and an upgraded computer in Switzerland. In the previous list, the top U.S. supercomputer based at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. was in the third spot.

“The only other time this occurred was in November 1996, when three Japanese systems captured the top three spots,” the TOP500 organization said in a statement. However, this doesn’t mean that the U.S. is losing its edge in supercomputers.

The top ten list of supercomputers contains five entries from the United States alone, the most of any country. The U.S. also accounts for 169 supercomputers in the top 500 with China in second place with 160 machines.

So while others are ramping up their supercomputing efforts, it’s not like the United States has been resting on its laurels.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Computers
Tags: supercomputers