(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click here to subscribe for free.)
The world’s most powerful supercomputer Fugaku is now fully developed in Japan, and the machine is available for research use.
Japanese scientific research institute RIKEN and Fujitsu began development six years ago with an aim to make the device core of Japan’s computing infrastructure. Then, in April 2020, it was tested particularly in projects to combat COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, as Fugaku is fully open and available for shared use, Japan’s Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST) has selected 74 projects that will use the supercomputer in FY2021, which begins in April.
RIST has also called for proposals for new projects in several categories, and invited researchers who are interested to apply.
Also Read : Predicting tsunamis with the world’s fastest supercomputer
“Fugaku is a key national technology, and we will manage it responsibly with the goal to achieve research results that will help build a long-lived and healthy society, disaster mitigation, and better energy use, with the ultimate goal to establish the government’s vision of an ultra-smart Society 5.0,” Hiroshi Matsumoto, president of RIKEN said in a statement.
Fugaku has topped the Top500 list , a supercomputer benchmark index, for two consecutive years. The computer has 100 times the application performance of K supercomputer and is developed to implement high-resolution, long-duration and large-scale simulations.
A portion of Fugaku’s research is said to be dedicated to COVID-19 related projects. The computer is built not only for scientific researches but also to help build the “Society 5.0”. The initiative by Japanese government aims to make a society where all people live safe and comfortable lives.
