The 10 Most Expensive Super Computers

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The first supercomputer, Atlas, dates back to the early ‘60s.

It was installed in Manchester University, and is far less powerful than ordinary desktop computers

in our homes today. Looking around the world, it’s quite obvious that technology has taken a big leap

since the hazy ‘60s. Every five years, in fact, the supercomputers of today become obsolete,

thanks to rapidly advancing technology in information and computer development and research.

Today’s supercomputers are measured in PetaFLOPS, a processing speed equal to a million billion,

or a thousand trillion, floating point operations per second. These machines are made to help scientists

and meteorologists forecast global warming and weather; to stimulate brain activity or the effects of global warming; to advance nuclear technology and security, and much more throughout the world.

According to a senior scientist at the Beijing Computing Center, only a small fraction of the total capacity of

these monolithic supercomputer centers are being used today.

He claims that, “The supercomputer bubble is worse than a real estate bubble… [because] a computer,

no matter how fast it is today, will become garbage in five years.”

Despite that claim, nations are still investing billions of dollars a year in the race to advance technology

and become the top players in the tech and supercomputer world. Rather than rate the top ten supercomputers

by speed (because that fluctuates so much), below are the world’s ten most impressive supercomputers are ranked by their eye watering price tags.

The 10 Most Expensive Super Computers (therichest)