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Comment by prvc | Hacker News Reader

That series of tweets is difficult to decipher. What is being reported here?

It's about Intel's Aurora supercomputer, which was delayed 4 years due to Intel's production problems and delays in their GPU development: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(supercomputer)

According to the tweets, researchers who reserved time for their projects on the supercomputer had to sign NDAs so they cannot complain about the delays... not exactly a good look.

It should be noted that during that 4 year delay the computer was also upgraded by an order of magnitude (180 petaflops -> 2 exaflops). Intel deserves criticism for their various delays for sure, but the proposed 2018 machine and the shipping 2022/23 machine really are only the same in name.

In a nutshell (bound by a single tweet of 13):

> The U.S. should have had two exascale supercomputers on the Top 500 in 2021. And Aurora, which has been plagued by Intel’s delays since 2017, should have been first—well before “Frontier” at Oak Ridge National Lab appeared. But Intel dropped the ball over. And over. And again.

It does acknowledge that recent deliveries will allow the project to place on the current supercomputer list by virtue of finally being able to run LINPACK tests ... but that's still a few years late and well short of what was promised to be delivered, tested, bedded, and deep into working by now.

To hazard a guess - the delayed delivery of Aurora to Argonne National Labs, originally planned (in different form) for 2018 and now expected "late 2022"

https://insidehpc.com/2020/08/exascale-exasperation-why-doe-...

A handful of post docs haven't been able to complete their research projects because Intel's CPU development is behind schedule.

Something under some heavy NDAs, apparently.

It’s a postdoc whining. Literally nothing more.

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