The US has invested $600 million in the world's most powerful supercomputer to protect its nuclear arsenal from hacker attacks.
Os United States invest heavily to ensure the protection of their nuclear arsenal against possible cyberattacks. On January 9, more than 300 employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), government officials and industry leaders gathered to celebrate the opening of El Capitan, the supercomputer fastest in the world.
This technological achievement marks a crucial step in securing the United States nuclear arsenal, representing the pinnacle of collaboration between science, industry and government.
What is El Capitan?
El Capitan is the first exascale computing system developed for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
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It can perform over 2 quintillion calculations per second, or 2,79 exaFLOPs at peak performance.
For comparison, it is more than a million times faster than the supercomputers used 30 years ago to manage the US nuclear arsenal.
With this impressive capability, El Capitan enables complex simulations of nuclear explosions, eliminating the need for physical testing and contributing to global security.
Furthermore, it is essential for the maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons without compromising international non-proliferation treaties.
Cutting-edge technology at the service of security
El Capitan was developed in partnership with industry leaders including Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), AMD, and RedHat. Its architecture features advanced technologies including:
- AMD Instinct MI300A Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), which provide superior performance for complex calculations;
- HPE Slingshot Interconnect, which ensures ultra-fast communication between system components;
- High performance computing capability, essential to solving national security challenges, from weapons modeling to cyber threat detection.
These innovations make El Capitan a game-changer in high-performance computing, setting a new global standard.
The power of supercomputer collaboration
The groundbreaking ceremony highlighted the importance of government-private partnership. Rob Neely, LLNLโs associate director for Weapons Simulation and Computing, called the event โa testament to partnershipโ and noted that collaboration between NNSA, LLNL and industry was essential to the projectโs success.
Antonio Neri, CEO of HPE, praised El Capitan as โโthe pinnacle of engineering collaboration,โ emphasizing its impact on scientific discovery and innovation. AMD CEO Lisa Su said the project is โthe culmination of more than a decade of collaborationโ, demonstrating the value of public-private partnerships.
National security impact of supercomputer
The implementation of El Capitan represents a revolution in U.S. nuclear security. It will enable:
- Continuous monitoring of the nuclear arsenal, ensuring its effectiveness and safety;
- Cyber โโThreat Modeling, helping to protect critical infrastructure against attacks by nation states and hacker groups;
- More accurate simulations, allowing strategic adjustments without the need for physical nuclear testing.
Furthermore, the supercomputer will contribute to advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analysis and prediction of complex scenarios.
Advances in simulations and Artificial Intelligence
LLNL Deputy Director for Strategic Deterrence Brad Wallin said that El Capitan is more than a modeling and simulation system; it is a powerful tool for AI training and inference. โWe are still exploring the full role of AI in our mission, but we are confident that it will accelerate our R&D capabilities.โ, said Wallin.
Another important aspect is the ASCโs Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP), which prepares the next generation of scientists through high-level academic projects.
In addition to El Capitan, the Tuolumne supercomputer will support unclassified research. According to Pat Falcone, LLNLโs deputy director for science and technology, the system will be available for a variety of scientific projects, from quantum simulations to earthquake modeling. โThese efforts strengthen computational science and enable new solutions,โ Falcone explained.
Three decades of advances in computing
The event also celebrated the 30th anniversary of the ASC program, which began in 1995 as the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI).
Thuc Hoang, NNSA deputy assistant administrator, highlighted advances from terascale systems to modern exascale systems like El Capitan that offer unprecedented accuracy.
"It's not just about computing, it's about providing validated tools to solve the country's most challenging scientific problems.โ, Hoang said.
El Capitan is more than a supercomputer; it is a critical pillar of U.S. security and an engine of scientific innovation.
Its capability for detailed simulations and integration with AI puts the United States at the forefront of technology overall.
In the future, it is expected to contribute to new advances in security, science and talent development, solidifying LLNL's position as a center of excellence in high-performance computing.
What's this talk? The atomic arsenal is all analog, precisely to avoid interference or external attack.