Japan's supercomputer captures Top500 crown, China dominates with system number

Japanese supercomputer "Fugaku" has topped the new edition of the Top500 supercomputer list announced on Monday, while China continues to lead in the number of Top500 supercomputers.

The new top system "Fugaku" turned in a High Performance Linpack (HPL) result of 415.5 petaflops, besting the second-placed "Summit" system of the United States by a factor of 2.8x, according to a release on the new ranking.

"Fugaku," powered by Fujitsu's 48-core A64FX SoC, becomes the first number one system on the list to be powered by ARM processors.

In single or further reduced precision, Fugaku's peak performance is over 1,000 petaflops (1 exaflops). The new system is installed at RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan.

Number two on the list is "Summit," an IBM-built supercomputer which was the champion on the last list. Running at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. state of Tennessee, it remains the fastest supercomputer in the United States.

At number three is "Sierra," a system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the U.S. state of California.

Chinese supercomputers "Sunway TaihuLight" and "Tianhe-2A" stood at fourth and fifth on the Top500 list.

China continues to dominate the list with regard to system number, claiming 226 supercomputers on the list. The United States is number two with 114 systems, and Japan is third with 30.

Despite coming in second on system count, the United States continues to lead in aggregate list performance with 644 petaflops, followed by China's 565 petaflops. Japan, with its significantly smaller system count, delivers 530 petaflops.

Chinese manufacturers dominate the list in the number of installations, with Lenovo, Sugon and Inspur continue to claim top three. Supercomputers installed by the three Chinese vendors account for 312 of the top 500 systems.

The latest rankings reflect a steady growth in aggregate performance and power efficiency, according to the release.

The Top500 list is compiled by Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and Martin Meuer of ISC Group, Germany.