The US Energy Dept. announced on 12th May their intention to build a supercomputer that, at 50 teraflops (50 trillion operations per second), will overtake the current, long-standing champion - Japan’s Earth Simulator.

The proposed supercomputer project will involve Cray Inc., IBM and Silicon Graphics Inc., all private companies that have been deeply involved in high-performance computing research.

“This computer will propel the United States into the global lead in high-speed computers aimed at scientific discovery,” says Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham.

The supercomputer will be open to the scientific community for research… I wonder if I can get an account?