Chinese Supercomputer Claims World Speed Record
While most Americans still associate China with cheap, knockoff electronics, the Middle Kingdom's indigenous computer industry has advanced so far that they now host the world's fastest supercomputer. The Tianhe-1A is 1.4-times faster than the previous record holder, and is the first computer to claim the speed title that wasn't built in the USA, USSR or Japan.
According to the New York Times, the Tianhe-1A performs 2.5 petaflops per second , with a flop equaling 10^15 mathematical calculations. Chinese scientists assembled the Tianhe-1A from American-made chips from companies like Intel and Nvidia, but networked those chips into a single computer with proprietary software.
Although the scientists assembled the computer under a joint Ministry of Education/Ministry of National Defense program, the exact use of the Tianhe-1A remains a mystery. Many supercomputers are used to solve complex problems relating to physics, economics or defense, while others are used in business applications.
Currently, a number of US institutions are working on assembling even faster systems, but due to the time and complexity involved in making the fastest machine known to man, the Tianhe-1A will get to retain its title for at least the next few years.