The Earth Simulator has fallen to fourth place, with about a quarter the computing speed of the new leader.

The machine has quickly become a best seller, especially among computer "power users" looking for raw computing speed.

These chips combine all of a computer's functions onto a single piece of silicon, thereby significantly lowering costs and raising computing speeds.

This is now widely regarded as the first operational computer which in a model rebuild still today has a remarkable computing speed.

Dr. Smarr's obsessive search for more computing speed derived from his theoretical work as a student in the 1970's.

The computing speed is improved by using several computing elements.

Pulling one bit of information out of each memory location of such a chip at current computing speeds, he estimates, "would require 58,000 years."

Chip makers need a new material to produce faster computing speeds.

Even with the uncanny computing speed of the composites, that seemed impossible.

This kind of hybrid design is increasingly being used as designers scramble to reach ever-greater computing speeds.