NEC has claimed that the ‘world's fastest vector computer’ SX-9 will have a peak processing power of 839 teraflops, and feature the first CPU that exceeds 100 gigaflops of peak vector performance. The company has claimed that when connected with up to 512 units, one unit of the SX-9, which can be provided with as many as 16 CPUs. The SX-9 model is the newest in NEC's SX series that has sold over 1,000 units worldwide.

Interestingly, NEC is yet to make a computer among the top 10 in global rankings of supercomputers, but now claims that its new SX-9 delivers peak processing performance at a rate of 839 teraflops – each teraflop is a trillion calculations per second!

According to the list published by computing researchers at the University of Tennessee, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Germany's University of Mannheim every six months, presently IBM's BlueGene/L at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is now No. 1 with a performance mark of 280.6 teraflops in the latest list of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers.

 However, what remains a mystery is whether SX-9 will find a place in that ranking, as peak processing speed isn't necessarily reflected in actual use. Cray and Hewlett-Packard Co. also boast of computers that have fast processing capablities.

Vector supercomputers have become far less popular in the recent years and are replaced by far cheaper cluster groups. But the Vector supercomputers are still used for many applications such as conducting scientific and technical computations at high speed, which would be useful for work on climate, aeronautics or space, environmental simulations and fluid dynamics.

NEC said that it plans to start shipments of SX-9 models in March and make the new product available for rent at 2.98 million yen or $26,043 per month. The company is expecting to sell around 700 units in three years.