[ExI] World’s Biggest Supercomputing Superpowers [INFOGRAPHIC]

[John Clark]

On Sep 21, 2010, at 1:15 PM, Dave Sill wrote:

> The probability that DOD or NSA don't have any supercomputers that aren't listed on the Top 500 is close enough to zero that I'll take it as a fact.

I wouldn't know how to even begin to measure the probability for something like that, and I doubt if you do either.

> I also have inside information, but I'm not at liberty to share it.

Then what's the point of mentioning it?

>> It's interesting that on the list of the 500 most powerful computers in the world the microprocessors in all but 3 of the machines were made by Intel AMD or IBM, all are companies based in the USA. The three exception were number 37, 42 and 383 on the list which had Japanese microprocessors. Nobody used Chinese processors including the Chinese.

> It hardly matters. These are commodity chips.

Memory chips are commodities, microprocessors are not. It's also interesting that the operating system for almost all the supercomputers on the list is Linux, and China didn't develop that either. When IBM made their first PC almost 30 years ago it made a very big splash, they thought they owned the home computer market and for a short time they did; but IBM didn't control the microprocessor or the operating system. Today IBM no longer makes PC computers.

> China could probably produce them if they really wanted to

I imagine China would rather like to control a vital and very profitable multi billion dollar industry that has profound military implications, but they don't. 

> but why bother?

That's the thing, starting a microprocessor industry from scratch would be a very large bother indeed.

  John K Clark


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