The US is building a $500m ‘exascale’ computer that will be the world’s most powerful
Officials claim the machine will be seven times faster than the current most powerful system.
A first: The Aurora supercomputer would be the first US computer to reach exascale performance, where a computer can do more than a quintillion calculations per second. The closest rival is a $200 million IBM system called Summit, which won the top spot among the world’s 500 most powerful computers last year.
The details: Aurora will be built by Intel at the Argonne National Laboratory, on the outskirts of Chicago. It’s scheduled to be ready in 2021.
Why? Making machines quicker at crunching data would help researchers with tasks like modeling climate change or finding new pharmaceutical drugs. The announcement must also be seen through the lens of China-US tech rivalry, particularly within the field of supercomputers.
Sign up here to our daily newsletter The Download to get your dose of the latest must-read news from the world of emerging tech.
Deep Dive
Computing

Russia hacked an American satellite company one hour before the Ukraine invasion
The attack on Viasat showcases cyber’s emerging role in modern warfare.

Chinese hackers exploited years-old software flaws to break into telecom giants
A multi-year hacking campaign shows how dangerous old flaws can linger for years.

Transforming the automotive supply chain for the 21st century
Cloud-based tech solutions are helping manufacturers manage a new ecosystem of suppliers with greater agility and resilience.

Energy-hungry data centers are quietly moving into cities
Companies are pushing more server farms into the hearts of population centers.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.