Japan Plans World’s Fastest Computer

Japan has plans to build a supercomputer next year that can operate 73 times faster than the world’s fastest supercomputer (the American Blue Gene/L system supercomputer developed by IBM), reports Reuters:

Japan wants to develop a supercomputer that can operate at 10 petaflops, or 10 quadrillion calculations per second, which is 73 times faster than the Blue Gene, an official of the ministry said on condition of anonymity. Kyodo News reported that the total amount for the project is estimated between 80 billion and 100 billion yen ($714 million to $893 million) and the ministry will request 10 billion yen ($89 million) for the next fiscal year’s budget.