2,700 Quadrillion Calculations per Second: El Capitan Supercomputer Debuts
The United States has unveiled El Capitan, the world’s most powerful supercomputer, capable of performing over 2,700 quadrillion operations per second. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) introduced the groundbreaking system at the SC conference in Atlanta, where it immediately secured the top spot in the Top500 ranking of the planet’s most powerful supercomputers.
The development of El Capitan began in 2018 at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Over four years, experts from Hewlett Packard Enterprise engineered a revolutionary architecture powered by 44,544 AMD MI300a processors, which integrate both central and graphical processing units on a single chip.
Its predecessor, the Frontier supercomputer, boasted a performance of a mere 2,000 quadrillion operations per second. Alongside El Capitan, its “younger sibling,” Toulumne, was also unveiled, ranking tenth globally with a performance of 288 quadrillion operations per second.
The primary purpose of this cutting-edge supercomputer is to simulate the behavior of nuclear weapons as part of the program ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Following the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1965, the United States and other nuclear powers transitioned to computational modeling to replace physical testing.
According to Corey Hinderstein, Acting Deputy Administrator of the NNSA, El Capitan will enable the creation of unprecedentedly precise three-dimensional models of physical processes. This will allow specialists to study the effects of aging on munitions and assess their safety with unparalleled accuracy.
The supercomputer will also play a pivotal role in research on inertial confinement fusion. Its immense computational capabilities are planned to support the training of artificial intelligence systems that will aid in both fields of study.
Scientists have already begun adapting their programs to the new system, reporting remarkable improvements. As computational physicist Luke Peterson noted, tasks that once required several months to complete can now be resolved in just a matter of days.
