AMD introduces El Capitan: the world's fastest supercomputer pumping 1.742 exaflops of power

AMD has announced its leadership in the high-performance computing (HPC) space with the new El Capitan supercomputer online, recognized as the fastest supercomputer in the world, and it's powered by AMD hardware.

The new El Capitan supercomputer is housed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and is powered by AMD Instinct MI300A APUs, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) building the system. El Capitan hit a High-Performance Linpack score of 1.742 exaflops of supercomputing performance.

Forrest Norrod, executive vice president and general manager, AMD said: "We are thrilled to see El Capitan become the second AMD powered supercomputer to break the exaflop barrier and become the fastest supercomputer in the world. Showcasing the incredible performance and efficiency of the AMD Instinct MI300 APUs, this groundbreaking machine is a testament to the dedicated work between AMD, LLNL and HPE. At AMD, we are driving the future of computing with leadership performance and capabilities that will continue to define the convergence of HPC and AI for years to come".

Rob Neely, director of LLNL's Advanced Simulation and Computing program added: "El Capitan is crucial to the National Nuclear Security Administration's core mission and significantly bolsters our ability to perform large ensembles of high-fidelity 3D simulations that address the intricate scientific challenges facing the mission".

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Bronis R. de Supinski, LLNL's chief technology officer for Livermore Computing said: "Leveraging the AMD Instinct MI300A APUs, we've built a system that was once unimaginable, pushing the absolute boundaries of computational performance while maintaining exceptional energy efficiency. With AI becoming increasingly prevalent in our field, El Capitan allows us to integrate AI with our traditional simulation and modeling workloads, opening new avenues for discovery across various scientific disciplines".