Spending for Japanese Supercomputer Drastically Curtailed

A government economic panel in Japan on Friday has decided to drastically curtail expenses for a project to develop the world’s fastest next-generation supercomputer.  The project has requested a budget allocation of 26.7 billion yen to complete it.  Riken, the academic project lead, is working with private companies to develop the technology, but members of the Japanese Government Revitalization Unit are skeptical.

Why does it have to be the world’s fastest?” and, “It’s hard to understand how (the supercomputer) will contribute to the daily lives of people.” [Government Revitalization Unit]

The agency initially decided to freeze the funding for the project, but later changed their minds in favor of scaling back the funding.  This could prove to big a serious blow to the Riken team in charge of the project.  For more info, read the full article here.