CNET: China’s Supercomputers Race Past US to World Dominance

China dominates the list of the world’s list of the 500 fastest supercomputers. with 202 in all along with total performance. The United States has 144 supercomputers. The list is released twice a year. “The news … marks a notable shift in the international balance of high-end computing power that's closely tied to industrial, academic and military abilities,” writes Stephen Shankland for CNET. “Supercomputers, mammoth machines that can occupy entire buildings and use thousands of processors, are useful for tasks like simulating nuclear weapons explosions, forecasting weather, designing aircraft and investigating the cosmos....” The two computers topping the list are in China. The United States could reclaim the top spot, though, with an IBM machine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, according to Shankland. Measuring the speed and performance of supercomputers has its own challenges, and a new test suggests a supercomputer in Japan may top the list. Supercomputers are expected to spur development of big data analysis and artificial intelligence. – YaleGlobal