Intel processors power 75 per cent of world's Top500 supercomputers

Intel Corp microprocessors run more of the world's fastest computers than ever before, according to a report released Wednesday that tracks progress in the computing industry.

According to the latest list of the world's Top500 supercomputers, published twice a year by academic researchers, shows that 75 per cent of the machines are powered by Intel chips, up from 71 per cent in November.

Chips from Intel's main rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., powered 11 per cent of the Top500, down from 16 per cent in the previous list.

IBM dominates not only the top 10 spots, but the overall Top500 list as well, with 210 of the fastest 500 machines. Its closest competitor is Hewlett-Packard Co., which has 183 systems in the ranking.

Intel's quad-core processors are gaining popularity with more than half the machines in the list based on these processors. Supercomputers are one of the first uses beyond the PlayStation 3 for the Cell chip, but others are envisaged.

The fastest computer on the list is the $100 million "Roadrunner" machine built by IBM Corp. for the Department of Energy's nuclear lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The ''Roadrunner'' is the first computer in the world to surpass a petaflop - 1,000 trillion calculations per second. It's more than twice as fast as the IBM machine that ranks No. 2 on the list.