Japan is set to develop a new generation of AI “Zeta-class” supercomputers!

Sherazur Rahman#
Japan has recently announced plans to develop a new generation of AI technology-based “Zeta-class” supercomputers, which will possess exceptionally high processing power. Japanese technologists believe that these supercomputers will operate at least 1,000 times faster and more accurately than any existing supercomputing system in the world. The country has designated this advanced supercomputer of the future as Fugaku Next.
Japan plans to begin development of the Fugaku Next Generation supercomputer in 2025 as part of an ambitious initiative, with high expectations for it to be fully operational by 2030. Currently, Japan’s esteemed technology company Fujitsu and the RIKEN Research Institute are collaborating on its design. In 2020, these two organizations jointly developed the original Fugaku supercomputer, which was launched for use in 2021.
The currently operational Fugaku supercomputer in Japan boasts a peak performance of 537.21 petaflops per second (Rpeak), making it one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. It held the title of the most powerful supercomputer until 2022. As of November 2024, the Fugaku supercomputer ranks as the sixth most powerful supercomputing system globally. It is installed at the RIKEN Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan.
However, according to the Top500 ranking from last November, the American-made El Capitan supercomputer has emerged as the world’s fastest supercomputer. Designed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, this supercomputer boasts an impressive speed of 2.746 exaFLOPS, equivalent to 2,746.38 petaFLOPS (Rpeak) per second. It has been installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States.
Meanwhile, the implementation of the new, ambitious computing system project in Japan is estimated to cost approximately $761 million. According to Japanese technologists, the speed of this next-generation supercomputer is expected to reach at least 1 zettaFLOPS. One thousand exaFLOPS (floating-point operations per second) is equivalent to 1 zettaFLOPS. In this context, FLOPS refers to floating-point operations per second.
No high-speed supercomputer currently in operation worldwide has achieved zettaflop speeds. However, the American ‘Frontier’ supercomputing system made its debut in 2022 as the world’s first exascale supercomputer. It is expected to remain the most powerful and fastest supercomputer until June 2024.
The high-tech ‘Frontier’ advanced computing system, also known as a supercomputer, was originally developed by the American company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). It boasts a peak performance of 2.055 exaFLOPS (floating-point operations per second) and is installed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. Furthermore, according to the latest Top500 report, the United States is home to five of the world’s top ten most powerful supercomputers.
References: Next Big Future, Extreme Tech, Wikipedia, Top500.