Intel and NEC join hand to develop supercomputer technologies

Intel acting swiftly to scale up its position in supercomputer domain. Intel is partnering with parallel computing expert NEC to jointly develop tera flop performance computer technologies. NEC to use Intel's Xeon processor and vector capabilities such as AVX to design high performance supercomputers.

NEC will also continue to sell their existing SX vector processor-based products. A vector processor can perform a mathematical operation on several numbers simultaneously.

"Intel's substantial investment in the Intel architecture, including the development of processors, chipsets, software compilers and other related products has expanded the usages of Intel Xeon processors in both the volume and high-end HPC market segments," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Intel's High Performance Computing Group. "Now with NEC further innovating on Intel Xeon processor-based systems, Intel is poised to bring Intel Xeon processor performance to an even wider supercomputing audience."

"NEC's substantial experience in the development of vector processing systems, including vector pipeline management, memory sub-systems, and high speed interconnect technology is a natural fit for taking Intel architecture further into new markets," said Fumihiko Hisamitsu, General manager of HPC Division at NEC. "NEC will enrich its HPC product portfolio through this collaboration as well as continuous enhancement of its vector supercomputer."

Advancing in supercomputing and maintaining number one position is more of a exposure of technology capabilities rather than a revenue generation drive for Intel and AMD.