(Source: Business Wire)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. China has\nalmost half of the most powerful supercomputers in the world: <\/strong>Supercomputers\nrequire a lot of manpower to build and maintain, requiring personnel for a\nvariety of tasks. They are also prohibitively expensive to install and run. So,\nit should come as no surprise that China, a country with both large amounts of\nmanpower and a huge reserve of money, owns and operates nearly half of all the\nsupercomputers in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Top500.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Linux and\nLinux based OS is used in all of the top 500 fastest supercomputers: <\/strong>Windows\nmay have the lion\u2019s share of the consumer market when it comes to operating\nsystems, but LINUX is the undisputed king of supercomputer OS. As of November\n2019, all of the top 500 fastest supercomputers run on LINUX or LINUX based\noperating systems. The total share of LINUX across all supercomputers is\nestimated to be around 95%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: itfoss.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. The USA\nhas the top two fastest supercomputers: <\/strong>While China may be the pack leader\nwhen it comes to the sheer number of supercomputers at its disposal, the USA\nhouses the two fastest supercomputers in the world. These computers, namely\nSummit and Sierra, boast of 1.5 times the speed of China\u2019s TaihuLight but only\nconsume 0.75 times the power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Verge)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. The US\ngovernment invested up to $430 million in supercomputing research: <\/strong>TheUSA\u2019s\nposition as the country with the most powerful supercomputers was achieved due\nto the exorbitant funding the government provides to create them. In 2017 the\nUS government allocated $270 million in funding to the DOE, which funds\nsupercomputer research. This was then backed with a commitment to raise 40% of\nthe cost of the system in total, totaling an investment of $430 million over\ntwo years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Verge)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Japan has\nthe most efficient supercomputers in the world: <\/strong>The Japanese people are\nknown for their adherence to efficiency and this extends to their\nsupercomputers as well. They have four of the top 10 most efficient systems in\nthe world. Their A64FX has a peak efficiency of 16.8 GFLOPS\/watt. For comparison,\nSummit has a peak efficiency of 14.71 GFLOPS\/watt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Green500)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. The USA once\nblocked the export of Intel\u2019s chips to China, leading China to develop the\nfastest supercomputer processor in the world: <\/strong>In 2105, China was on track\nto build the fastest supercomputer yet, the Sunway TaihuLight. This machine\n(currently active) was rumored to be developed to aid in nuclear tests\nsimulations. In an effort to prevent it from being built, the US government\nbanned an export license to Intel. Intel was, and still is, the leading\nproducer of supercomputer processors. Undeterred, the Chinese government-funded\nthe production of their own proprietary chips, which led to TaihuLight being\nbuilt for nearly $30 million less than its allocated budget. It still stands as\nthe most cost-efficient supercomputer in the world (cost for building to\ncomputing power)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: BBC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. China will\nfinish building the first exascale computer in 2020: <\/strong>Modern supercomputers\nare rated at Petaflops, which is one million billion floating-point operations\nperformed in one second. The fastest supercomputer in the world, US\u2019 Summit, is\ncapable of operating at an astounding 148 Petaflops. However, according to the\nChinese government reports that it will be ready to unveil the world\u2019s first\nExaflop capable computer. This computer will be capable of up to one billion\nbillion calculations in one second, nearly five times the speed of Summit. The\nUSA is not too far behind, claiming to be able to create a supercomputer\ncapable of 1.5 exaflops capable machine by 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: nextplatform.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. The\nsupercomputer market was worth nearly $5.4 billion in 2019: <\/strong>Supercomputers\nare very expensive and useful machines. The market for these powerful machines\nis massive. In 2017 this market was worth $4.12 billion worldwide. It grew to\n$5.4 billion by the end of 2019 and is expected to grow at a combined annual\ngrowth rate of 9.5% for a value of $7.1 billion by the end of 2022. (Source: Market\nStudy Report<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. Cray \u2013\nCDC 6600 was the first supercomputer and was as powerful as a scientific\ncalculator: <\/strong>The first-ever computer to be classified as a supercomputer was\nCray\u2019s CDC \u2013 6600. This qualification was bestowed upon it by virtue of it\nbeing nearly 100 times more powerful than the then consumer computers. It could\nfunction at a rate of 1000 flops. This would make it slightly less powerful\nthan most modern scientific calculators, which can be used at a rate of around\n1 MFLOP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Computerhistory.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. Supercomputers\nhave been used to create AI that can beat human world champions at their own\ngame: <\/strong>Artificial Intelligences are extremely potent at performing nearly\nany task. Programmers often use popular games like chess or Go to test their\nAI\u2019s ability to learn complex tasks. One of the most daunting games for AIs to\nplay is StarCraft 2. It is one of the most difficult games to master in the\nworld, with the world champions having played it for over ten years. However,\nrecently, Google\u2019s AI, named AlphaStar, proved itself to be up to the task.\nAlphaStar was trained on Google\u2019s Deepmind supercomputer, which allowed it to\nplay millions of full-length games against itself to make itself better. Soon\nit was able to beat the reigning StarCraft 2 champion 5-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Deep Mind)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. Human\nbrains are entire orders of magnitudes more powerful than a supercomputer: <\/strong>As\nwe have learned, supercomputers can only currently perform at around 150\npetabytes. However, biologists have postulated that human brains can process\nand store information at a rate of 256 exabytes, which is about 300 billion\ntimes faster than the fastest supercomputers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Wired UK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13. The\nWashington Post\u2019s supercomputer uses AI to write news stories: <\/strong>While the\nphrase \u2018Robots will take over all the job\u2019 is rather scary, there is always the\nsecurity that there will always be some jobs that robots can\u2019t take over. One\nof these jobs was thought to be journalism. However, this changed in 2017, when\nHeliograf, The Washington Post\u2019s supercomputer trained AI, wrote the coverage\nof Iowa\u2019s fourth congressional election in 2017. Since then, Heliograf has\nwritten several other stories that have been published in The Washington Post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14. Spain\u2019s\nsecond most powerful supercomputer lives right next to God: <\/strong>Spain\u2019s second\nmost powerful supercomputer resides in one of the most unlikely locations ever,\nin the basement of a grand cathedral! The Mare Nostrum, the supercomputer,\nresides in the Torre Giorna, a cathedral that was used for worship by Catholic\nMonks until the late 1960s before it was sold to the Spanish Government. It was\nthen repurposed to house IBM\u2019s Mare Nostrum in 2005, and the massive machine has\nresided there ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Barcelona Supercomputing Center)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15. Parallella,\nthe pocket-sized supercomputer, which costs $99: <\/strong>After reading so many\namazing things about supercomputing, do you want to obtain and use one\nyourself? Well with Parallella, you can! Touted as the world\u2019s smallest\nsupercomputer, Parallella boats of an 18-core architecture, which can output up\nto 102 GFLOPS of computational prowess. This is paltry compared to the giants\nof the supercomputing world, but still a hefty amount o power, especially\nconsidering its price tag. The 16 core variant only costs $99!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Parallella.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we have\ntaken a deep look into supercomputers, we will take a look into the natural\nevolution of the same. This evolution is brought on due to the physical\nrestriction of the solid-state transistors that supercomputer processors are\nbased around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These solid-state\ntransistors have continuously been developed to be smaller, in accordance with\nMoore\u2019s Law. The law dictates that the number of transistors that can fit in a\nprocessor will double every two years. However, these transistors have a hard\nlimit for their size due to a phenomenon called quantum tunneling that allows\nelectrons to simply pass through a barrier that is smaller than their\nwavelength. To circumnavigate this limit, researchers have been working on\nQuantum Computers. The first wave of this technology already exists in the form\nof quantum processors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quantum computers\nuse quantum bits, called qubits, instead of binary bits to perform\ncalculations. Binary bits can only hold two states, namely 1 and 0, and these\nstates are completely independent of each other. Meanwhile, qubits can hold both\nstates simultaneously. So, two qubits can be holding any one of four states at\nthe same time. Hence depending on the factors that use these qubits, they can\nbe used in two different calculations. This means that calculation performed by\nqubits are entire magnitudes of time quicker. Since qubits are quantum\nparticles instead of electrons, they can also be much smaller than standard\ntransistors. So, quantum computing is much faster and much smaller than a\nstandard transistor-based computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quantum\ncomputing is widely recognized to be the next major evolution of technology,\njoining the ranks of inventions like the steam engine and computers. Keeping\nthis in mind, here is a look into the interesting facts and statistics related\nto Quantum Computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16. IBM\u2019s quantum\nmachines work with 16-qubits: <\/strong>IBM has been successful in creating a Q\nprocessor machine, which is the precursor to true quantum computers. Just like\nhow classical computers with thousands of transistors were predated by\n\u2018calculating machines\u2019 which only used 10-20 transistors, the Q processor\nmachines use only 16 qubits, while a true quantum computer would use thousands\nof these qubits in one processor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: IBM)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 17. IBM\u2019s Q\nmachines are accessible to the public: <\/strong>IBM released their \u2018Q \u2013 Experience\u2019\nin 2016, which was a cloud-based service where-in users can log in and use\ntheir quantum machines for whatever purpose they desire. They have also created\ntheir own programming language and compiler for the quantum machine to help in\ninducing users into the quantum realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: IBM)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 18. Most\ncurrent research into creating compilers\/languages for quantum machines are not\ndone on quantum machines: <\/strong>While it is true that quantum machines exist,\nthey are in a very rudimentary stage. Researchers can find themselves losing\ntheir progress because of decoherence of qubits. To prevent this instability\nfrom affecting the work of researchers, supercomputers are used to emulate\nqubits. However, even the most powerful supercomputers can only manage to\nsimulate only 64 qubits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: phys.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 19. Quantum\ncomputing might work due multiple parallel universes: <\/strong>Even though quantum\nmachines have been created, scientists still aren\u2019t 100% sure how exactly they\nwork. One such explanation uses the theory of parallel universe. It states that\nqubits exist in multiple universes at the same time, and we observe them in all\nof these universes together until something forces them to collapse into one\nparticular state, or universe. This is a far-fetched theory for sure, but it\nhas gotten some support in the quantum community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Sociable.co)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20. Cores of\nquantum machines work at close to -272.98o<\/sup> C, only 0.02o<\/sup>\nC above absolute zero: <\/strong>Qubits are very fragile and can lose their\nsuperimposed state very easily due to outside interference. One way to keep\nthem stable is to keep them at very low temperatures. Google\u2019s and IBM\u2019s machines\nuse this method for their cores. These cores are cooled using a special isotope\nof helium and lasers to achieve a temperature of 0.02 Kelvin, which is just\n0.02o<\/sup> C above the absolute zero. This is about 150 times colder than\ndeep space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Intel)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21. China\nannounced the creation of a $10 billion facility to research quantum computing:\n<\/strong>Countries across the globe have recognized the potential of quantum\ncomputing and have begun massive efforts to be able to create the first quantum\ncomputer. Leading this effort is China, whose government announced the creation\nof a $10 billion facility specifically to study quantum technology. They also\nawarded $1.2 billion in various grants to universities and labs for the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Wired UK)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 22. The\nearliest consumer quantum computer will be available for purchase by 2050: <\/strong>Quantum\ncomputers are far out of the reach of the average consumer right now. IBM\u2019s 16\nqubit Q machines come with a heavy price tag of $15 million, and Google\u2019s\nSycamore is estimated to cost around $45 million. This price doesn\u2019t even\ninclude the price of the super coolers needed by the cores to maintain\ntemperatures of close to absolute zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Futurism.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 23. Chinese\nscientists filed for 492 patents related to quantum technology by 2018: <\/strong>The\nmassive efforts by the Chinese government to improve the research efforts into\nquantum technology have borne tangible fruits. Since 1980, Chinese scientists\nhave filed 492 patents related to quantum technology, with 395 having been\nfiled after 2016. This puts China far ahead of the rest of the world when it\ncomes to unique patents being filed in this field. The second place is secured\nby the USA, which filed a measly 248 patents by 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 24. Google\nhas managed to fit 53 qubits onto a processor: <\/strong>While the D wave machines\navailable for public use only have 16 qubits available for use, Google\u2019s\n\u2018Sycamore\u2019 boasts of 53 qubits working in tandem. Sycamore is the culmination\nof a 12-year long project undertaken by Google, firmly cementing them in the\nlead of quantum computer technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: IEEE)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 25. A problem which would have taken\nSummit 10,000 years to solve was solved in a mere 200 seconds by Google\u2019s\nSycamore: <\/strong>In one of Sycamore\u2019s stress tests, Google gave it an\nimpossible test to on which to work. This test would have taken the fastest\nsupercomputer in the world, Summit, nearly 10,000 years to complete. Sycamore\ncompleted this in barely 200 seconds. That\u2019s nearly 1.5 trillion times faster\nthan Summit! What\u2019s more, Sycamore isn\u2019t even considered a true quantum\ncomputer, since it only houses 53 qubits. One can only imagine what an actual\nquantum computer will be capable of!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: livescience.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 26. Quantum computing\nwill render modern encryption algorithms useless: <\/strong>Modern encryption uses a\n256-bit key for encoding information. This is basically a 256 digit long number\nwhich is the multiplication of two unique prime numbers. Multiplication of any\ntwo numbers is very easy, but to figure out the two unique primes from the 256\ndigit number is practically impossible. In-fact modern encryption algorithms\nrely on the fact that it would take a classical computer more time than the\nEarth\u2019s lifespan to solve this factorization. However, this is not a problem\nthat quantum computers face. Since even Google\u2019s Sycamore, not even a true\nquantum computer, is about 1.5 trillion times faster than the fastest\nsupercomputer, prime number encryption is going to go out of use soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: MIT Technology Review)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 27. Quantum\ncomputers will use up to 1000 times less energy than their classical\ncounterparts: <\/strong>Modern computers use electrons to perform all their\ncalculations. These electrons need to be sourced from the power supply. This,\ncoupled with the power needed for cooling giant racks of servers, makes\nsupercomputers require a large amount of power to work. Summit requires nearly\n25 kW\/hr of power when operating at peak capacity. Meanwhile, Google\u2019s Sycamore\nonly needs 2034 W\/hr of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Cornell University)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 28. Quantum\ncomputers might be the breakthrough humanity needs to become an interstellar\nspecies: <\/strong>NASA plans on using the power of quantum computing to take\nhumanity to the stars. They plan on using quantum computers to predict the\nmotion of stars and asteroids and create ever more efficient routes for their\nspacecraft. This would make these spacecrafts infinitely more capable of making\nmuch longer trips, with much less fuel. Quantum computing can also be used for\nadvanced material design to create hyper-efficient engines and fuels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: IAARC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 29. Microsoft\u2019s\nquantum computing research is based upon a particle that most physicists don\u2019t\nthink even exist: <\/strong>As we have discussed, quantum technology is a field with continuously\nevolving research. Even then, there are some laws and techniques that are\nagreed upon by the community. However, Microsoft prefers to not listen to these\n\u2018efficient\u2019 and \u2018real\u2019 techniques. They are busy chasing after a particle that\nmost physicists think doesn\u2019t even exists. They have chosen to go this route\nbecause, on the off chance that the particle does exist, the qubits that it\nwould represent would be nearly 100 times more stable than the one that the\nindustry uses right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Scientific American)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 30. Even your\niPhone 34 will not be based on a quantum processor: <\/strong>While it is true that\nquantum computers are trillions of times faster than their classical\ncounterparts, they will most likely not replace the humble home PC. They are\nonly efficient when performing a large and complex task. This is because\nquantum computers can perform \u2018n2<\/sup>\u2019 tasks in \u2018n\u2019 seconds, and\nclassical computers perform \u2018n\u2019 tasks at the same time. So, this implies that\nif a classical computer can get a task done in one second, it will be processed\nat the same speed as a quantum computer. So, since our computers can already\nperform up to 50 MFLOPS, quantum computers won’t be useful for everyday tasks.\nIt\u2019ll be like asking the heavyweight boxing champion to use all his strength to\nopen a jar!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Business World)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 31. The first\nuse for a quantum computer might be just creating batteries: <\/strong>The first postulated\nuse for quantum computing will possibly be chemical simulations. These\nsimulations would bring around a new wave of material science, which would lead\nto the creation of new and more efficient batteries. Modern batteries are\nseverely limited in their capacity to hold power by virtue of the materials\nused in their construction for holding and transferring ions. This could be\nchanged by inventing new materials using quantum computing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: Wired)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 32. TU Delft\nhas a network to send information using rudimentary teleportation!:<\/strong> Quantum\nentanglement has often been hailed as the precursor to teleportation. Quantum\nentanglement involves two quantum particles that have been \u2018entangled.\u2019 These\nparticles then can read and copy each other\u2019s state across hundreds of kilometers,\nand this process is done instantly. TU Delft has demonstrated the power of this\ninstant teleportation of information to create a small network of a quantum\ninternet, that can transfer information anywhere in the network in less than a\nmoment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: TU Delft)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 33. Quantum\ncomputing can facilitate immortality: <\/strong>The human brain contains nearly 86\nbillion neurons. These neurons are all interconnected with each other to form\nthe neural pathways that form the conscious of a human being. Even though\nartificial intelligence is making huge strides thanks to the power of\nsupercomputers, it can never hope to match the human brain. While China and the\nUSA are competing to be the first to create an exa-computer, which could\ntheoretically match the processing speed of a brain, it could never be a true intelligence.\nThis might change with the advent of the quantum computing. The power of\nquantum computing may allow researchers to create an actual sentient brain and\ncould even allow for the human brain to be uploaded into an artificial shell\nthat could theoretically live forever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: BBC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 34. Quantum\ncomputing could lead to the cure for cancer and Alzheimer\u2019s: <\/strong>Modern\nmedicine is designed using massive supercomputers to aid in complicated\nprocesses like protein folding and predicting the effects and side effects of\nvarious chemicals. Cancer research has been furthered a lot by the advent of\nthese techniques. However, quantum computing might finally provide the\nprocessing power needed by researches to break the barrier to curing humanity\u2019s\nmost prolific killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Source: BBC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hub.pfind.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Super-Quantum-PC.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nFacts about Quantum Computers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
References and Data Sources:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n