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The world's first true multi-core processor was called the POWER4, created in 2001 by IBM. It incorporated 2 physical cores on a single CPU die and implemented IBM's PowerPC 64-bit instruction set architecture (ISA). It was used in IBM's line of workstations, servers, and supercomputers at the time, namely the RS/6000 and AS/400 systems.
== Usage of Parallel Computing and HPC ==
=== Earliest Applications of Parallel Computing ===
Today, almost every industry has found at least one or more practical applications for parallel computing, and the world is witnessing its evolving capabilities through one dominant contender: Artificial Intelligence, which has made popular and demanding use of GPUs to build deep learning neural networks.
The design and implementation of either parallelizing an existing serial program or writing one from scratch with the parallelization baked in from the start, used to be a very tedious, iterative, and error-prone process. Identification of which parts of a program could be parallelized and then implementing them was complex and time-consuming. Over time, various tools have been developed to ease and shorten the manual process such as parallelizing compilers, pre-processor directives (like OpenMP’s), and compiler flags (like ones used at the terminal or command prompt). The manual process of analyzing potential opportunities for parallelization is still an important step towards determining how much of a performance boost can be achieved and if it is worth investing time to implement it.
=== Parallel Computing in Supercomputers and HPC ===
Parallel computing used to be largely confined to High Performance Computing (HPC), system architectures designed to handle high speed and density calculations. When thinking of HPC, supercomputers are generally the types of machines that come to mind. Parallel programming became a significant sub-field in computer science by the late 1960s, and most of the compute-intensive processing was happening on supercomputers that employed multiple physical CPUs on nodes (or “racks”) in a hybrid-memory model.
The first supercomputer was designed and developed by Seymour Cray, an electrical engineer who was deemed the father of supercomputing. He initially worked for a company called Control Data Corporation where he worked on the CDC 6600 which was the first and fastest supercomputer between 1964 and 1969.
He left in 1972 to form Cray Research and in 1975, announced his own supercomputer, the Cray-1. It was the most powerful and most successful supercomputer in history and was used until the late 1980s.
Fast forward to the 2000s, which saw a huge boom in the number of processors working in parallel, with numbers upward in the tens of thousands. Such examples in the evolution in parallel computing, High Performance Computing, and multi-core systems include the fastest supercomputer today, which is Japan's Fugaku. It boasts an impressive 7.3 million cores, all of which are, for the first time in a supercomputer, ARM-based. It uses a hybrid-memory model and a new network architecture that provides higher cohesion among all the nodes. The success of the new system is a radical paradigm-shift from the departure of traditional supercomputing towards that of ARM-powered systems. It is also proof the designers wanted to highlight that HPC still has much room for improvement and innovation.
== Domination of Two Semiconductor Giants Intel and AMD In Multi-core Processor Development ==
Currently in 2020 the global multi-core processors market has been significantly more competitive. Today’s market has been segmented into dual-core processors, quad-core processors, octa-core processors, and hexa-core processors. It’s apparent the increasing advancement in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies is anticipated to boost the growth of the multi-core processor.
== References: ==
MULTI-CORE PROCESSORS — THE NEXT EVOLUTION IN COMPUTING. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/pdf/AMD_Athlon_Multi-Core_Processor_Article.pdf
Barney, B. (2020, November 18). Introduction to Parallel Computing. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://computing.llnl.gov/tutorials/parallel_comp/
A very short history of parallel computing. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://subscription.packtpub.com/book/hardware_and_creative/9781783286195/1/ch01lvl1sec08/a-very-short-history-of-parallel-computing
What is Parallel Computing? Definition and FAQs. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.omnisci.com/technical-glossary/parallel-computing
Multi-core processor. (2020, November 18). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-core_processor
Instruction-level parallelism. (2020, September 23). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction-level_parallelism
Start, C. (2013, July 18). Multi-core Systems. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.cs.uaf.edu/2008/fall/cs441/proj1/fswcs/
Kaufmann, M., Koniges, A. E., Jette, M. A., Eder, D. C., Cahir, M., Moench, R., . . . Brooks, J. (n.d.). Part 1: The Parallel Computing Environment. Retrieved November 12, 2020, from http://wayback.cecm.sfu.ca/PSG/book/intro.html
Jackson, K. (2020, June 23). The 5 fastest supercomputers in the world (1064822629 811109711 A. Alering, Ed.). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://sciencenode.org/feature/the-5-fastest-supercomputers-in-the-world.php
POWER4. (2020, October 19). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER4
No, J., Choudhary, A., Huang, W., Tafti, D., Resch, M., Gabriel, E., . . . Pressel, D. (n.d.). Parallel Computer. Retrieved November 18, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/parallel-computer
