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# Supercomputers are getting much faster than before
- URL: https://www.techstories.co/supercomputers-are-getting-much-faster-than-before/
- Published: 2025-03-11T07:22:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-03-15T07:22:48.000Z
- Description: Fastest 5 supercomputers account for 43% of the total computational performance of top 500 supercomputers.
- Author: Paul Mah
- Tags: Data Centres, Technology, Events

Did you know? The fastest 5 supercomputers account for 43% of the total computational performance of the top 500 supercomputers.

That's how much more powerful supercomputers have become in recent years.

I was at Day 1 of SuperComputing Asia 2025 today and came away with copious notes about high-performance computing (HPC), liquid cooling and AI.

**Liquid cooling ahead**

Unsurprisingly, there was no shortage of liquid-cooled servers in the exhibition hall. As I wrote recently, liquid cooling is now [a must for AI data centres](https://www.techstories.co/liquid-cooling-set-to-dominate-ai-data-centres/).

On this front, I saw servers from Asus built for direct-to-chip (DTC) cooling, as well as their Nvidia and AMD GPU servers. Check out the photo of a (liquid cooling) quick disconnect plug I snapped.

𝗽𝘀: To be clear, air-cooling will work just fine if you are not planning to roll out hundreds of GPU servers in a high-density deployment.

![No alt text provided for this image](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194444.jpg)

![](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194024.jpg)

![](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194051.jpg)

****Photo Captions**: Quick disconnect plug of an Asus server (Left). Vertiv 1.3MW Coolant Distribution Unit (Centre). Nvidia GB200 'superchip' with ARM CPU (Right).

**Flow control**

But what if you must do liquid cooling? I chatted with Danny Wong of Vertiv, who helpfully walked me through what a liquid cooling deployment looks like.

Spoiler: It's way trickier than you think.

Some challenges to consider:

- Limited reaction time if problems develop.
- Fouling of microchannels, pipes.
- Maintenance can be tricky.

I'll go into the details in another post.

I took a photo of the Vertiv 1.3MW in-row CDU, or Coolant Distribution Unit. I was told two are recommended for 10-13 racks of the latest B200 GPU servers.

![No alt text provided for this image](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194182.jpg)

![](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194099.jpg)

![](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2025/03/1741694194149.jpg)

**Lower precision for AI**

Remember when I [explained](https://www.techstories.co/why-deepseek-shocked-ai-experts-and-gained-global-fame/) some of the innovations made by the DeepSeek team that stunned AI experts? One was the (mixed) use of 8-bit numbers with 32-bit numbers.

What I didn't realise was how the latest GPUs now favour lower precision performance due to AI. Indeed, Nvidia's newest B200 GPU has less 64-bit capability (40Tflop/s) than the older H100 GPU (67Tflop/s).

In his keynote, Prof Jack Dongara went into detail about how to use mixed precision computation for GPU-powered supercomputers.

I don't have space to go into details, but here's what the future bodes, according to him:

- Expect mixed precision use to increase.
- HPC hardware is constantly changing.
- Expect algorithm and software advances.

SuperComputing Asia 2025 is held at MBS from 10 March (Mon) until 13 March (Thur) this week.

![No alt text provided for this image](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D5622AQGKIeosLaQJyg/feedshare-shrink_2048_1536/B56ZWFEEqaHoAs-/0/1741694193949?e=1744848000&v=beta&t=qHcRD_Qr9S8YH6BD8oFpoLSHhmAIiNpnKkLzRp3uOLQ)

****Photo Caption**: Mock-up of quantum computer