A supercomputer is a superior version of a general-purpose computer, which has a significantly increased capacity and processing power.
What is a supercomputer?
The first supercomputers were introduced in the 1960s by Control Data Corporation. Seymour Cray is credited with developing the first supercomputer, capable of outputting more computations than traditional general-purpose computers. At the time, supercomputers were not as widely utilized as they are at present.
Nowadays, supercomputers have an important role in the technological advancements we are experiencing. One of the more noticeable uses of supercomputers that people might not even know about is weather prediction. Meteorologists rely on supercomputers to process huge amounts of data from all over the world to provide as accurate a prognosis as possible. Because of the numerous data points meteorology utilizes, supercomputers prove extremely valuable in predicting weather conditions on a global scale.
Governments all over the world are looking to invest in the development of supercomputers. There is a worldwide competition going on between countries to be the next one to create the best supercomputer so far. In 2017, China, the United States, and the European Union were competing against each other to create the first-ever computer capable of processing one quintillion FLOPS.
Even with the serious competition for the next best development, supercomputers still have a long way to go. According to experts, a supercomputer capable of processing one sextillion FLOPS will be required for the complete weather modeling of the world for two weeks. Currently, such technology does not exist. While supercomputers still have a long way to go, they prove to be an essential part of our digital development already.