US failing supercomputer ranks, falls to 1996 levels

You'd think that the US would lead the supercomputer race, but it's China that is dominating right now. According to the latest TOP500 ranking of the world's most powerful supercomputers, the US has fallen so far behind it's at 1996 levels.

The list is updated twice a year, and determines the rankings of the supercomputer by overall computing power. China has the top two spots with its Sunway TaihuaLight pushing an incredible 93 petaflops, while the Tianhe-2 is capable of 33.9 petaflops. The US only has its Department of Energy's Titan supercomputer, with just 17.6 petaflops of computing power in comparison.

The newly upgraded Swiss National Supercomputing Centre has some power on the new list, pushing out 19.6 petaflops - beating the Titan in the US, up from its previous power of 9.8 petaflops. The US is no longer in the top three supercomputer rankings, falling into fourth place for the ifrst time in over 20 years.

But don't worry, the US Department of Energy is building an all-new IBM machine dubbed Summit, which will be pushing a mind blowing 200 petaflops. Summit will be online next year, offering double the performance of the #1 fastest supercomputer in the world.