A Japanese laboratory has built the world's fastest computer, so powerful that it matches the raw processing power of the 20 fastest American computers combined and far outstrips the previous leader, an IBM-built machine.
The achievement, reported at the weekend by an American scientist who tracks the performance of the world's most powerful computers, is evidence that a technology race United States engineers have generally thought they were winning handily is far from over.
The NEC company's breakthrough is also a dramatic statement of contrasting scientific and technology priorities in the US and Japan.
The Japanese machine recreates the entire planet in "an Earth simulator". It was built to analyse climate change, including global warming, as well as weather and earthquake patterns.
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