what is a supercomputer

A supercomputer is a type of computer that performs at or near the highest operational rate for computers. It is designed to handle massive amounts of computation or data, and is used for scientific and engineering applications that general-purpose computers cannot handle. Supercomputers are made up of multiple central processing units (CPUs) that use parallel processing to communicate with one another. They are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, and artificial intelligence. Supercomputers are measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS), and the fastest supercomputers in the world can perform over 1017 FLOPS.