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Learn more 1. Home 2. News 3. Computing This powerful supercomputer can now run on light instead of electric current By Anthony Spadafora published 25 December 21 France's Jean Zay supercomputer now has an integrated photonic coprocessor * * * * * * Jean Zay Supercomputer (Image credit: Cyril FRESILLON / IDRIS / CNRS) Audio player loading... In addition to being one of the most powerful computers in the world and currently ranked 105 on the Top500 list, France's Jean Zay supercomputer is now the first HPC to have a photonic coprocessor. Unlike traditional processors which use electric current, LightOn's photonic coprocessor transmits and processes information using light. The company's photonics coprocessor was added to the Jean Zay supercomputer under a pilot program with GENCI and IDRIS and represents not only a technological breakthrough but also a first for the industry. So far, LightOn's technology has successfully been used by a community of researchers since 2018. Now though, its photonic coprocessor will be available to select users of the Jean Zay research community over the next few months who will use the device to conduct research on machine learning foundations, differential privacy, satellite imaging analysis and natural language processing (NLP) tasks. LightOn photonic co-processor LightOn's Optical Processing Unit (OPU) uses photonics to speed up randomized algorithms at a very large scale. However, it also works in tandem with standard silicon CPUs and Nvidia's A100 GPU technology. The company's Aurora 2 OPU powers its Appliance integrated computing unit which is built into a 2U form factor so that it can be quickly and easily integrated in data centers or in this case, a supercomputer. According to LightOn, its Appliance can reach a peak performance of 1.5 PetaOPS at 30W TDP and can deliver performance that 8 to 40 times higher than GPU-only acceleration. CEO and co-founder of LightOn, Igor Carror provided further insight into the pilot program that saw its Appliance integrated into the Jean Zay supercomputer in a press release, saying: "This pilot program integrating a new computing technology within one of the world's Supercomputer would not have been possible without the particular commitment of visionary agencies such as GENCI and IDRIS/ CNRS. Together with the emergence of Quantum Computing, this world premiere strengthens our view that the next step after exascale supercomputing will be about hybrid computing" We've also rounded up the best business computers, best workstations and best mobile workstations Via Tom's Hardware Anthony Spadafora Anthony Spadafora * After living and working in South Korea for seven years, Anthony now resides in Houston, Texas where he writes about a variety of technology topics for ITProPortal and TechRadar. He has been a tech enthusiast for as long as he can remember and has spent countless hours researching and tinkering with PCs, mobile phones and game consoles. See more Computing news Are you a Pro? Subscribe to our newsletter! Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! [ ] [ ] [ ] Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands [ ] Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors [Sign me up] Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. FIND A PRODUCT * Laptop * TV * Headphones * Bluetooth Speakers * Smartphones * Camera * Webcam * VPN [ ] Most Popular MOST POPULARMOST SHARED 1. 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