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Nvidia CEO donates $50 million to Oregon State University, which promptly builds a $200 million supercomputing center

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Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori, have donated $50 million to their alma mater, Oregon State University, to advance research in AI, climate science and robotics. The university will use the donation to build an engineering complex with an AI supercomputer to help students and faculty address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As a civil engineer, Scott Ashford used explosives to make the ground under Japan’s Sendai airport safer in an earthquake.

Now, as the dean of the engineering college at Oregon State University, he’s at ground zero of another seismic event.

In its biggest fundraising celebration in nearly a decade, Oregon State announced plans today for a $200 million center where faculty and students can plug into resources that will include one of the world’s fastest university supercomputers.

The 150,000-square-foot center, due to open in 2025, will accelerate work at Oregon State’s top-ranked programs in agriculture, computer sciences, climate science, forestry, oceanography, robotics, water resources, materials sciences and more with the help of AI. [Read more…] about Nvidia CEO donates $50 million to Oregon State University, which promptly builds a $200 million supercomputing center

Chalmers University selects Lenovo and Nvidia to build Swedish national supercomputer

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Chalmers University of Technology is using Lenovo and Nvidia’s technology infrastructure to power its large-scale computer resource, or supercomputer, Alvis.

The project has seen the delivery and implementation of a clustered computing system for artificial intelligence and machine learning research, in what is Lenovo’s largest high-performance computing cluster for AI and ML in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Alvis – old Norse meaning “all-wise” or “all-knowing” – is a national supercomputer resource within the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC). [Read more…] about Chalmers University selects Lenovo and Nvidia to build Swedish national supercomputer

ZF unveils ‘world’s most powerful automotive supercomputer’

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ZF has unveiled the next generation of its ZF ProAI Supercomputer, designed to make vehicles more intelligent.

The automotive parts giant showcased the new kit at the recent Auto Shanghai exhibition and describes as “the world’s most powerful automotive supercomputer”.

Dr Holger Klein, ZF board member for the Asia-Pacific region, says: “It is currently the most flexible, scalable, and powerful automotive-grade supercomputer in the world.” [Read more…] about ZF unveils ‘world’s most powerful automotive supercomputer’

Fujitsu to use ‘world’s fastest supercomputer’ for tsunami prediction

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Fujitsu, in partnership with other companies and academic institutions, has developed a computing system that will enable the prediction of tsunamis – massive, sudden floods caused by turbulence at sea. 

The International Research Institute of Disaster Science at Tohoku University, the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo, and Fujitsu Laboratories have developed an artificial intelligence model that will empower disaster management teams with the ability to predict tsunami flooding in coastal areas in near real-time.

The system harnessed the computational power of what is claimed to be “the world’s fastest supercomputer”, Fugaku, jointly developed by Riken and Fujitsu. [Read more…] about Fujitsu to use ‘world’s fastest supercomputer’ for tsunami prediction

Continental building supercomputer on Nvidia platform to use for vehicle AI

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Continental is building a supercomputer based on the Nvidia computing platform. The system is intended for vehicle artificial intelligence system training.

The two companies say they are building the high-performance cluster based on Nvidia DGX AI systems, adding that this will “boost autonomous driving development performance”.

The new cluster reduces development time from weeks to hours, say the companies and among its main uses are deep learning, simulation and virtual data generation. [Read more…] about Continental building supercomputer on Nvidia platform to use for vehicle AI

Eni to co-host Automa 2020 and to show ‘most powerful supercomputer in the world’

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An Italian major oil and gas company and BGS Group have recently announced their partnership in the run-up to Automa 2020 – Automation and Digitalization Congress that will be held in Italy, Milan, on October 19-20.

Regina Chislova, project director of Automa 2020, says: “Eni middle and senior management have been attending the congresses organized by BGS Group for a few consecutive years, flying to different European countries.

“This year we bring Automa to Eni’s home and, therefore, decided that it will be a mutually beneficial partnership.” [Read more…] about Eni to co-host Automa 2020 and to show ‘most powerful supercomputer in the world’

Scientists use supercomputer to create ‘first living robot’

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Scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University have created what they claim is the world’s first living robot. (See video below.)

The scientists say they have repurposed living cells, taken from frog embryos, and assembled them into “entirely new life-forms”.

The millimeter-wide “xenobots” can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload – like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient – and heal themselves after being cut. [Read more…] about Scientists use supercomputer to create ‘first living robot’

IBM develops ‘world’s most powerful commercial supercomputer’ for Total

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IBM has built Pangea III, which it claims is the world’s most powerful commercial supercomputer, for Total, a global energy company operating in more than 130 countries.

The new IBM POWER9-based supercomputer will help Total more accurately locate new resources and better assess the potential associated revenue opportunities.

According to Total, Pangea III requires 1.5 Megawatts, compared to 4.5 MW for its predecessor system. Combined with the increased performance of Pangea III, Total has reported that they have observed that the new system uses less than 10% the energy consumption per petaflop as its predecessor.

[Read more…] about IBM develops ‘world’s most powerful commercial supercomputer’ for Total

Nvidia builds supercomputer to develop self-driving cars

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Nvidia unveils DGX SuperPOD, ‘world’s 22nd fastest supercomputer’. By Charlie Boyle, Nvidia

In a clear demonstration of why artificial intelligence leadership demands the best compute capabilities, Nvidia has unveiled what it claims is “the world’s 22nd fastest supercomputer” – DGX SuperPOD – which provides AI infrastructure that meets the massive demands of the company’s autonomous-vehicle deployment program.

The system was built in just three weeks with 96 Nvidia DGX-2H supercomputers and Mellanox interconnect technology. Delivering 9.4 petaflops of processing capability, it has the muscle for training the vast number of deep neural networks required for safe self-driving vehicles.

Customers can buy this system in whole or in part from any DGX-2 partner based on Nvidia’s DGX SuperPOD design. [Read more…] about Nvidia builds supercomputer to develop self-driving cars

Fujitsu begins production of post-K supercomputer

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Fujitsu Limited has announced that, working with RIKEN, it has completed the design of Post-K, the successor to the K supercomputer.

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is aiming to start the public service of Post-K around 2021 or 2022.

Fujitsu has now concluded an official contract with RIKEN to manufacture, ship, and install hardware for Post-K.

[Read more…] about Fujitsu begins production of post-K supercomputer