Supercomputing Power Stagnates at China’s Tianhe-2 Speed Remains Unchallenged

The June 2015 edition of the Top500 Supercomputer list is now out and once again the top speed is 33.86 petaflop/s which is achieved by China’s National University of Defense Technology’s Tianhe-2 supercomputer. While that’s an impressive figure, the Tianhe-2 first hit number one on the Top500 list in June of 2013, with the exact same performance numbers. That means that in the last two years, there has been zero improvement in the top speed of the world’s fastest supercomputer.

…the Cray Titan once again came in second place at 17.59 petaflop/s.

There is only a single new entry on the top 10 list, with the Cray XC40 ‘Shaheen II’ system cracking the list in the number seven slot at 5.536 petaflop/s. The Shaheen II is located in Saudi Arabia at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).