When Cray Computing, acquired by HP in 2019, anticipated building its powerful PC, El Capitan, it forecasted a peak performance of approximately 1.5 exaflops. The 64th edition of the global ranking of non-distributed supercomputers was unveiled, with El Capitan surpassing expectations by achieving a record-breaking performance of 1.742 exaflops, earning it the distinction of being the world’s most powerful supercomputer at present.

El Capitan is one of only three computers to date classified as exascale, with the capability to perform over a quintillion calculations per second. The oppositely ranked systems, dubbed Frontier and Aurora, have seized the positions of runner-up and third-place finisher on the prestigious TOP500 list. Unbeknownst to many, the massive supercomputers are actually housed within the confines of renowned research institutions: El Capitan resides at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Frontier calls Oak Ridge National Laboratory home; and Argonne National Laboratory proudly hosts Aurora. Cray’s involvement spanned across all three programs.

El Capitan boasts a massive fleet of over 11 million combined CPU and GPU cores, largely powered by AMD’s cutting-edge 4th-generation EPYC processors. These 24-core processors boast a clock speed of 1.8GHz each, leveraging the power of AMD’s Intuition M1300A APUs. While relatively environmentally friendly for its kind, this program boasts a notable energy efficiency, achieving an estimated 58.89 Gigaflops per watt.

The El Capitan system is designed to address nuclear stockpile security and, potentially, nuclear counterterrorism concerns. Exceeding expectations, this system is poised to dominate the landscape for an extended period before another exascale computer supplants its position.