’SC computer breaks tech speed record

USC’s newest supercomputer has ranked as the fifth most powerful supercomputer in the U.S., reaching 531.6 teraflops, or floating-point calculations per second, according to USC News.

The computer was ranked by TOP500 Supercomputer Sites, where it was also listed as the 16th most powerful supercomputer used in academia, and the 53rd most powerful in the world.

The computer incorporates graphic processing units that allow it to process data much more quickly, USC News reported.

USC’s previous supercomputer was ranked the 10th-fastest academic supercomputer in the U.S. in November 2012. The new computer is both faster and smaller, taking about one sixth the space of the old one.

The computer is located in the USC Center for High-Performance Computing and Communications, a partnership across several disciplines that supports more than 110 research groups.