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What makes a supercomputer “super”?

AI news coverage is often driven by fear of an autonomous future where robots replace humans in the workforce. But what often gets overlooked is the uniquely practical benefit of supercomputers — their ability to process huge amounts of data and solve complex calculations at warp speeds. These machines simply do what human brains can’t.

Supercomputers (like HiPerGator) are really teams of computers that are housed together in data centers and act as one “super” unit, cranking out up to quintillion calculations per second. A human brain can only calculate one simple mathematical calculation in that timeframe.

Supercomputers excel at arithmetic-intensive tasks, such as weather forecasting, climate research, cryptoanalysis and molecular modeling. Those skills helped scientists at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic when supercomputers from around the world joined forces to isolate and identify the spike protein in the virus. While many vaccines take 10 to 15 years to reach the public, the first mRNA COVID vaccine went from phase 1 clinical trials in mid-March 2020 to FDA-approved on December 18, 2020 — a little over nine months. That epic achievement was the result of scientists harnessing the power of supercomputers to turbocharge and refine their own research and trials.

Supercomputers can also be trained to perform language tasks, such as extracting concepts from a text, summarizing, noting similarities and finding patterns. Known as large language models (LLMs), these specialized systems can assist busy professionals with reading tasks. For instance, a supercomputer’s algorithms can digest thousands of scientific articles in a short time, generating intriguing hypotheses for scientists to investigate. This holds particular promise in the medical field, where a person would have to read at least 160 hours a week just to keep up with new publications.

HiPerGator at a Glance
  • 70,320 computer cores
  • 4 petabytes 30 PB of storage (30 million gigabytes)
  • Performs calculations in hours or days that would take months or years on a personal computer
  • Sustained by elaborate energy and cooling system housed in its own UF building
  • Used by researchers in every UF college and department, from material sciences and astronomy to art and early education
  • Open to use by researchers at all Florida universities
  • All users purchase time and access
  • Originally launched in 2013, has grown in multiple phases; now HiPerGator 3.0
  • Ranked No. 3 among U.S. university supercomputers

WHY IT MATTERS

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