Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a broad term for the fastest computers that are currently available. Such computers are typically used for intense processing tasks, including scientific simulations, (animated) graphics, (e.g. in petrochemical prospecting),, computational , physics, chemistry, electronic design, nuclear energy research and.

Description
A classic definition of a supercomputer was being capable of doing more than a billion floating-point calculations per second (a gigaflop). A less serious definition, reported from about 1990 at the stated that a supercomputer is any computer that can outperform IBM's current fastest model, thus making it impossible for the company to ever produce a supercomputer.

History
was a well-known known supercomputer manufacturer when Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs was said to have visited their facility in to acquire a. After Jobs had been ousted by the Apple Board of Directors in 1985, CEO John Sculley contacted Mike Wilhelm at Cray to have Bence Gerber deliver a Cray X-MP/48 in August 1986. Another unit was acquired in February 1991, followed by a 2E upgrade in that same year. A Cray Y-MP EL was purchased in December 1993 and remained in use until June 1998. Uses included computational to improve disk drive head design and board logic proving tests. A Classic Mac OS emulator had even been written for the first X-MP.

Steve Jobs later returned to Apple and introduced the Power Mac G4 in 1999 as the first desktop "supercomputer" due to its ability to exceed a gigaflop. As a result, the U.S. government deemed the "supercomputer" a "weapon" and blocked the G4 from being marketed in the mainland of the People's Republic of China. Jobs used the publicity to market the computers elsewhere while lobbying to have the restrictions removed.

As high-end computer workstations could rival the speed of earlier supercomputers, acquired over 1,100 Power Mac G5s in 2003 to network them through the  standard into System X. It was initially capable of 10.28 teraflops, making it the third fastest supercomputer in the world. By the following year, it had been upgraded to 2.3 GHz Xserve G5s, featuring smaller size, power requirements, and support for RAM. In comparison, Apple introduced the iPhone 13 in 2021 with an Apple A15 chip containing a Neural Engine capable of 15.8 teraflops.

In 2013, social media company Facebook built a supercomputer with Mac Minis at one of its data centers for the purpose of testing its iOS apps. In 2020, the went online as the first ARM-based supercomputer, also becoming the fastest in the world at 1.42 exaflops.

Articles

 * Apple Cray Computer by MarkJenkins at the WikiWikiWeb (2013-12-19)
 * Cray 2 v iPhone XS: Fight! by Diego Sandoval at Medium (2018-12-16)