Nvidia and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) debuted Perlmutter, an AI supercomputer that features 6,144 Nvidia A100 Tensor Core GPUs. Named for astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter, the supercomputer has been dubbed by Nvidia as “the fastest on the planet,” at processing with the 16-bit and 32-bit mixed-precision math used in AI applications, said the company’s global HPC and AI product marketing lead Dion Harris. Its first job will be to create the largest-ever 3D map of the visible universe. Continue reading Nvidia and NERSC Unveil a New Supercomputer for AI Tasks

Microsoft is going full bore into quantum computing, moving from pure research into efforts to build a prototype of what has been primarily an experimental field. If and when they come to fruition, quantum computers could have an impact on drug design, artificial intelligence and even our understanding of physics. For that reason, IBM and Google are also investing in quantum computing, although Microsoft has taken a singular approach, based on so-called braiding particles (also known as anyons). Continue reading Microsoft Imagines a Practical Future for Quantum Computers

IBM Research now claims the world’s smallest movie with “A Boy and His Atom.” The 60-second movie — certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest stop-motion film — shows the story of a boy comprised of individual atoms who befriends an atom and interacts with it while playing on a trampoline made of atoms. It illustrates how scientists at IBM’s Almaden Research Lab can precisely move and manipulate individual atoms. Continue reading IBM Releases Smallest Stop-Motion Film in Cinema History