- The most powerful and expensive computers are called supercomputers.
- Supercomputers process billions of instructions per second.
- Until recently, supercomputer customers were an exclusive group: agencies of the federal government.
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- The federal government uses supercomputers for tasks that require voluminous data manipulation, such as worldwide weather forecasting and weapons research.
- But now supercomputers are moving toward the mainstream, for activities as varied as stock analysis, automobile design, special effects for movies, and even sophisticated artworks.