ARTICLE UPDATED MAY 2026<\/p>\n
Computers are already an indispensable part of our daily lives: at work, at home or in our pockets, we live in a digital age where almost everything goes through a connected device. However, not all computers are the same. Far above conventional laptops or servers are \u201csupercomputers,\u201d machines designed to solve problems so complex that they would be insurmountable for traditional equipment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The term \u201ccomputer\u201d was already used in the 17th century to refer to people who performed calculations, but it was in the 20th century that the first groundbreaking machines appeared: Konrad Zuse's Z1 as one of the first programmable computers, Turing's code-breaking machines during the Second World War, or, decades later, IBM's Deep Blue, which defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in the 1990s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Around the same time, in 1993, the TOP500 list was also created, an international ranking that is updated twice a year and orders the most powerful supercomputers on the planet according to their performance on a standard benchmark. Since then, this list has become the benchmark for following the evolution of high-performance computing worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A supercomputer is a type of computer designed to achieve computational capabilities extraordinarily superior to conventional systems. Its performance is measured in FLOPS (floating-point operations per second) and, in the case of these machines, is usually expressed in petaflops (quadrillions of operations per second) or even exaflops (a quintillion operations per second).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, a supercomputer is designed to process volumes of data in a very short time that require thousands or millions of times more capacity than a home computer. This is why they are used for tasks such as simulating global weather, modelling material behaviour, researching new drugs, or training advanced artificial intelligence models.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n High-performance computing is a cross-cutting tool that is applied in many scientific, industrial and social fields. Some of the most common uses of supercomputers are:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To understand which machines are leading high-performance computing, the main reference is the TOP500 list, which compiles the 500 most powerful systems in the world according to their performance in the LINPACK benchmark. This ranking is updated twice a year and offers an insight into which countries and technologies are at the forefront of supercomputing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Currently, the United States and China account for a significant portion of the highest-performing systems, both in terms of the number of machines and aggregated power. They are joined by other countries with significant investments in supercomputing, such as Japan and several European states, which use these infrastructures for scientific research, industrial innovation, and strategic projects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the most recent lists, the top spot is held by El Capitan, a supercomputer installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (United States), which has surpassed the exascale threshold with a performance of over 1.7 exaflops in the LINPACK test. Below it are other flagship systems such as Frontier, Aurora, or European and Asian machines that compete for the top positions in the ranking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For several years, the Fugaku supercomputer, developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu in Japan, held the top spot in the TOP500 and was the benchmark for worldwide supercomputing. Based on ARM architecture A64FX processors and manufactured with 7-nanometre technology, Fugaku achieved a performance of over 440 petaflops in standard benchmarks, and surpassed an exaflop in certain types of reduced-precision calculations used in artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to its power, Fugaku stood out for its energy efficiency and for the intensive use made of the machine by the Japanese scientific community for high-impact projects. These included studies related to COVID-19, simulations of particle propagation indoors, and analyses of new materials for the energy transition. Although it has now been surpassed in raw performance by more recent exascale systems, Fugaku remains a benchmark for the use of supercomputing in applied research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The arrival of exascale supercomputers marks a turning point in the history of computing. Reaching and surpassing the exaflop allows us to tackle problems that previously required months of calculation within much shorter timeframes, combining simulation, data, and artificial intelligence. This capability is key to more accurate climate models, scientific recommendation systems, the optimisation of energy grids, or the design of new materials and medicines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, supercomputing is being democratised through the cloud and shared infrastructures, making it easier for universities, startups and companies from different sectors to access advanced computing capabilities without having to build their own data centres. In this context, understanding how high-performance computing works and how to connect it with disciplines such as data science or AI becomes a relevant competitive advantage for future professionals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you're interested in the world of supercomputers, data science, or artificial intelligence, the first step is to develop a solid foundation in programming, statistics, and systems architecture. Supercomputing isn't just hardware: it's the combination of models, data, and algorithms capable of harnessing all that computational power to solve real-world problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWhat is a supercomputer? Definition<\/b><\/h2>\n
Main uses of supercomputers<\/b><\/h2>\n
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The TOP500 ranking and the world map of supercomputing<\/b><\/h2>\n
Fugaku and the race to exascale<\/b><\/h2>\n
Supercomputing and the Future of Computing<\/b><\/h2>\n
Training and professional future in supercomputing and data science<\/b><\/h2>\n