Intel says its supercomputer broke the exascale barrier - and what makes that claim even more impressive is it's still being built
Aurora from Intel, in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), has achieved the remarkable feat of breaking the exascale barrier with a speed of 1.012 exaflops. Not only that, but it has also become the fastest AI system dedicated to open science, reaching an astonishing 10.6 AI exaflops.
Although Aurora falls just slightly behind the Frontier system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which achieved 1.206 exaflops, becoming the second supercomputer to break the exascale barrier is a monumental accomplishment. What's more impressive is that Aurora is still in the commissioning phase and hasn't reached its full potential yet.
In November 2023, HPC Wire ranked Aurora as number two on its top 500 list, but that was only based on half of Aurora running the HPL benchmark. However, in the most recent ranking announced in May 2024, Aurora still holds the second position, but its new HPL score has significantly improved compared to the previous 585.34 petaflops.
Aurora has been specifically designed for AI research and is equipped with 10,624 compute blades, 21,248 Intel Xeon CPU Max Series processors, and 63,744 Intel Data Center GPU Max Series units, all housed within 166 racks.
Ogi Brkic, Intel's vice president and general manager of Data Center AI Solutions, expressed his excitement about Aurora surpassing the exascale milestone and how it will contribute to future discoveries. He highlighted the wide range of scientific challenges that can be tackled with supercomputers like Aurora, from understanding climate patterns to unraveling the mysteries of the universe.
Looking ahead, Aurora has big plans, including climate change modeling, breakthroughs in fusion energy, atomistic simulations, and solving memory-bound problems in designing future power plants.
If you're interested in getting a closer look at Aurora, Argonne National Laboratory has provided an all-access tour, which you can watch below.
Although Aurora falls just slightly behind the Frontier system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which achieved 1.206 exaflops, becoming the second supercomputer to break the exascale barrier is a monumental accomplishment. What's more impressive is that Aurora is still in the commissioning phase and hasn't reached its full potential yet.
In November 2023, HPC Wire ranked Aurora as number two on its top 500 list, but that was only based on half of Aurora running the HPL benchmark. However, in the most recent ranking announced in May 2024, Aurora still holds the second position, but its new HPL score has significantly improved compared to the previous 585.34 petaflops.
Aurora has been specifically designed for AI research and is equipped with 10,624 compute blades, 21,248 Intel Xeon CPU Max Series processors, and 63,744 Intel Data Center GPU Max Series units, all housed within 166 racks.
Ogi Brkic, Intel's vice president and general manager of Data Center AI Solutions, expressed his excitement about Aurora surpassing the exascale milestone and how it will contribute to future discoveries. He highlighted the wide range of scientific challenges that can be tackled with supercomputers like Aurora, from understanding climate patterns to unraveling the mysteries of the universe.
Looking ahead, Aurora has big plans, including climate change modeling, breakthroughs in fusion energy, atomistic simulations, and solving memory-bound problems in designing future power plants.
If you're interested in getting a closer look at Aurora, Argonne National Laboratory has provided an all-access tour, which you can watch below.