Taiwan supercomputer Taiwania 2 was ranked the world’s 20th fastest in the biannual TOP500 list, marking a milestone in the nation’s technological development, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology Nov. 13.
The ranking, the best performance by a domestic supercomputer since the list’s inception in 1993, underscores the nation’s high-tech and R&D expertise, the ministry said.
Taiwania 2 was developed by the MOST’s National Center for High-performance Computing, based in Taiwan’s northwestern city of Hsinchu, in cooperation with local industry heavyweights AsusTek Computer Inc., Quanta Computer Inc. and Taiwan Mobile Co. Ltd. It is installed in the Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung City.
It has a computing speed of 9 quadrillion floating point operations per second, equivalent to about 8.1 million iPhone Xs, the MOST said. The supercomputer is expected to become operational early next year.
It also ranks 10th in the Green500 list of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers, making it the nation’s most environmentally friendly.
According to the ministry, Taiwania 2 has applications in a wide range of fields spanning biotech, financial technology, smart health care systems and smart manufacturing. It will be used to support AI R&D centers in institutions such as National Taiwan University in Taipei, National Tsing Hua and National Chiao Tung universities in Hsinchu County, and National Cheng Kung University in the southern city of Tainan as well as to provide support to local high-tech firms.
The TOP500 list is compiled by a group of mainly U.S.-based computer scientists. Two supercomputers from the U.S. occupy the top two spots. (KWS-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw