Fujitsu claims to have world’s fastest processor

When you think of the “world’s fastest processor,” does the name Fujitsu immediately come to mind?  Likely not – at least it wouldn’t for me.  However a new CPU codenamed “Venus” is apparently able to best Intel’s, er, best, in terms of calculations per second by 2.5x, up to 128 billion floating point operations per second (128 GFLOPS).  It is built on a 45nm process with an 8-core design and an integrated memory controller according to the information from PC Watch.


The official name of the processor is the “SPARC64 VIIIfx.”  This processor is not meant for consumers, as you might guess, but is instead supercomputer bound sometime in the next two years giving the likes of Intel and AMD a bit more time to catch up. 

A translated statement from Fujitsu says the processor will address markets for “Space weather, astronomy, science and protecting the global environment of advanced technology to support a project aimed at building future dreams are rich.”  Exactly.

(AP) — Japanese computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. said Wednesday that it has successfully developed the world’s fastest supercomputer processing unit with more than twice the speed of the current leader.

A new central processing unit, or CPU, prototype successfully computed at 128 billion times per second – beating the current record, held by Intel Corp., by 2.5 times, company spokesman Masao Sakamoto said.

The company shrunk the size of each central circuit, thus doubling the number of circuits per chip, he said. The prototype is also energy-efficient and was able to cut power consumption to one-third of the conventional Fujitsu model.

Fujitsu aims to put the new CPU, with a code name “Venus,” into practical application in supercomputers “within several years,” Sakamoto said.

Computer makers, including IBM Corp., Cray Inc. and Intel, have been competing to develop a faster CPU.