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Innovation, when done correctly, is a phenomenon significant enough to propel industries by the product. In the world of consumer tech, it is what paces the development and adaptation of companies, sets the product trends for years to come, and allows consumers — like you and I — to experience the future, today. But, when creating something new, only a few companies manage to strike the perfect balance of creativity, accessibility, and viability to solve the problems we face. With decades of experience covering the tech industry, the ZDNet team of subject-matter experts and analysts have spent the past year evaluating consumer products — hardware and software — to determine which ones achieve this balance of innovation. From folding displays that can seep underwater to sustainable smartphones, these are the tech products that we believe will pave the way for our technological future. Best innovations in hardware Through significant refinement and risk-taking, these gadgets give us a glimpse of the future and beyond. Best innovations in software Computing power that breathes effortlessly with its hardware — that’s what makes these picks the best. Did your pick for best innovative tech of 2021 make the list? Comment down below and let us know. If you haven’t already, also check out ZDNet’s best tech products reviewed in 2021. source

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Thursday ruled against Google in its patent dispute with Sonos, finding that Google infringed upon five valid patents belonging to the smaller audio company. The commission ordered a ban on the importation of Google products that violated the patents and ruled that Google must stop selling patent-infringing products that have already been imported.  The ruling could impact a wide range of products with certain audio features, like the Nest Hub, Nest Wi-Fi point and Pixel smartphones. Google suggested the ban will not impact the sale or importation of its products. However, Sonos’ lawyer called the case an “across the board win” for Sonos and made clear the company expects Google to start paying royalties for the use of its patented technology.  “There is a possibility that Google will be able to degrade or eliminate product features in a way that circumvents the importation ban that the ITC has imposed,” Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus said in a statement. “But while Google may sacrifice consumer experience in an attempt to circumvent this importation ban, its products will still infringe many dozens of Sonos patents, its wrongdoing will persist, and the damages owed Sonos will continue to accrue. Alternatively, Google can — as other companies have already done — pay a fair royalty for the technologies it has misappropriated.” Google said it does not expect the ruling to impact its ability to import or sell products, given the ITC has approved modified product designs.  Still, “We will seek further review and continue to defend ourselves against Sonos’ frivolous claims about our partnership and intellectual property,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement.  While Google intends to appeal the decision, the ban is slated to take effect in 60 days. The Biden administration could also choose to intervene. Specifically, the ITC ruling says that Google violated the Tariff Act of 1930 when it imported to the US and sold certain audio players and controllers, as well as their respective components. Sonos first filed suit against Google in the federal court system in January 2020. The patents at issue cover technology for setting up home audio systems, the synchronization of multiple speakers, the independent volume control of different speakers, and the stereo pairing of speakers.  Sonos was a pioneer in networked audio, but its speakers have been overshadowed by the Google Home and Amazon Echo in recent years. Google and Amazon were able to offer their smart speakers for a fraction of the cost of a Sonos speaker, flooding the market with devices as a means of bringing customers into their respective digital ecosystems.  In addition to complaining to the ITC, Sonos also filed suit against Google in a federal district court, and its CEO Patrick Spence testified against Google before a US House antitrust subcommittee.  Google, meanwhile, countersued Sonos. source

In the past two years, trust issues have become a top priority for business and technology leaders. Whether it’s expanding into adjacent markets, maximizing employee productivity with data, or rolling out a disruptive business model, no digital initiative has a chance of success without the trust of customers, employees, and partners. And in areas where every stakeholder is demanding action — like environmental sustainability and diversity, equity, and fairness — technology can drive key levers for trust with empathy, integrity, accountability, and transparency.  Savvy leaders who have embraced the trust imperative know that trust is not a buzzword and that it doesn’t happen accidentally. In the coming year, these leaders will take concrete steps to build this trust. And conversely, brands that fail to build digital trust will languish.  In 2022, we predict that leading companies will seize trust to benefit the planet, empower the organizations and individuals they serve and seize the opportunities presented by new digital models.  Here’s a peek at some of our 2022 predictions for digital trust:  Many companies will welcome a new chief trust officer. We expect that industries that require significant levels of trust, such as infrastructure technology and financial services, will appoint a new chief trust officer, reporting to the CEO and aligned with other C-suite roles such as the CISO. By our count, at least five firms have already taken this step, and we expect that another 15 firms in the Global 500 will follow suit in 2022. The role will have heft, with responsibilities that initially span board advisory, technology, risk management, and governance but will quickly include more human-centered aspects of trust like brand strategy and corporate values.  Bias bounties will target AI systems. It’s becoming obvious that many technologies embody the same implicit biases that afflict their creators. In 2021, to help combat this problem, Twitter launched the first major bias bounty program and offered a cash award to a student who showed that an image-cropping algorithm favored lighter, slimmer, and younger faces. In 2022, many other tech companies such as Google and Microsoft will also implement similar programs, quickly followed by non-technology companies in industries like banking and healthcare.  The number of firms committing to the Climate Pledge will triple. Environmental sustainability has become a highly visible driver of trust levers, particularly empathy, integrity, accountability, and transparency with intensifying expectations and scrutiny. The Climate Pledge initiative asks firms to commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2040; as of writing, 201 firms have already signed. Due to changing consumer sentiment, investor demands, government investment, employee activism, inevitable regulation, and partner pressure, we predict that firms will prove their sustainability bona fides by signing the pledge. This will trigger significant investment in sustainability management software for accurate carbon accounting and frequent reporting.  Trust is complex, ephemeral, and essential, and more businesses are realizing that no digital initiative has a chance of success without trust.  Learn more about Forrester’s predictions here. Principal Analyst Jinan Budge wrote this post, and it originally appeared here. source

The market for personal computers in Brazil remained bullish in 2021 with a significant increase in sales despite the difficulties the pandemic has presented to the sector, according to analyst firm IDC. According to the research, the segment grew in the first three months of 2021 and the trend continued in the second and third quarters of the year. Approximately 2 million computers were sold in Q2 with 2.3 million shipments in Q3; IDC noted the figures are respectively 60.2% and 41.3% higher than in the same periods of 2020, which had already been considered a good year for the sector. “In 2021, the PC market saw an impressive leap, even with the shortage of components, which has been inhibiting market growth and became an even more sensitive issue in the third quarter,” said Daniel Voltarelli, ICT market analyst at IDC Brazil. In relation to the sales for the second quarter of 2021, 408,000 were desktops and 1.6 million were notebooks, respectively an increase of 56% and 60% in relation to the same period in 2020. While the corporate market purchased 760,000 units, retail sales reached 1.2 million. While business sales had a 109% increase in Q2 2020, retail sales were up by 40%. The average price of desktops in Brazil was BRL 3.305 (USD 599), while notebooks were priced at BRL 4.314 (USD 780) on average. There was an increase of 13% and 4% in the price of laptops and desktops, respectively. The total revenue for the segment in April, May, and June 2021 exceeded BRL 8 million (USD 1.4 billion), up 80% on the same period in 2020. As for the third quarter, of the approximate total amount of PCs sold of 2.3 million, around 430,000 were desktops and 1.8 million were notebooks, up 34% and 43% in relation to Q3 2020. Businesses purchased 941,000 units while retail sales totaled 1.35 million, an increase of 108% and 15% in relation to the same period in the prior year. According to IDC’s Voltarelli, the increase seen in the Brazilian PC market is due to factors such as the gradual recovery of the economy and consumers looking to update their computers and, mainly, increase the computer/user ratio at home. “A family of four, for example, which only had one computer, needed to buy another PC to accommodate their daily activities,” the analyst noted. For the last quarter of 2021, IDC predicts the Brazilian PC market will still see growth, but there will be a slowdown in relation to previous quarters. “There is a global competition for components and manufacturers make choices daily about their supply logistics, and Brazil will not always be first in line,” Voltarelli noted. Moreover, IDC noted Brazilian consumers have been looking for higher standard computers since they are now relying more on their PCs and want machines with better memory, processors, and video resources. On the other hand, PC prices have seen an increase in 2021, due to factors such as high inflation and scarcity of components. According to IDC, desktops in Brazil had an average price of BRL 3.384 (USD 612) while notebooks cost BRL 4.475 (USD 810) between July and September 2021, up 13% and 15% on the same period in 2020. source

James Martin/CNET Apple regularly downgrades the job titles of its former employees in the databases that companies access to verify employment background, according to a recent Washington Post report. Such a practice could make it harder for former employees to find future work or at least be credited with the work they did in higher-ranking positions. To understand what Apple is reportedly doing, it’s important to understand how things are done. Employment history master databases You’re undoubtedly familiar with credit reporting agencies. When you apply for a loan, money lenders outsource some of the verification and qualification work to the big three agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Credit agencies provide a central repository of information and — to lenders — a source of “truth” about your financial background. Credit reports can make or break your ability to buy a car, get a mortgage, or rent an apartment. Unfortunately, those reports often have incorrect information. A recent CNBC report revealed that a full third of Americans have incorrect items on their credit reports — substantially limiting their access to both money and lifestyle options. Verifying employment backgrounds is another task that requires time-consuming and laborious investigation and is often automated by accessing comprehensive databases. Many medium-sized to large organizations use centralized employment history databases to validate job information. For example, a service called The Work Number boasts, “Data provided directly from over two million employers. The Work Number database offers credentialed verifiers with permissible purpose access to income and employment data for more than 136 million records.” Another service, InVerify, provides “Employment and income verification services.” Their pitch to HR departments is simple: Free up valuable time by leaving verifications to our team of experts. InVerify provides secure, fast, and accurate access to the latest income and employment verification information 24 hours a day 7 days per week. If these services seem an awful lot like those performed by credit agencies, that’s because they are. Both The Work Number and InVerify are services offered by credit reporting giant Equifax. We covered Equifax extensively a few years ago when it suffered cybersecurity breaches. Equifax is only one of many players providing these employment verification services. There are hundreds of companies hawking access to their databases of company-provided information. So here’s what happens. Let’s say you’re a software engineer and you apply for a job. Your official title might be something like “Software Engineer II,” which is what you put on your resume. In any case, when you apply for a job — now, more often than not, by filling out a web form — that form is processed by a variety of automated systems, including the aforementioned employment verification services. If the job history you claimed on the form or on your resume passes verification, it moves on in the process. But if it doesn’t pass verification, a few things might happen. First, and the most likely, is that your application is filed in the nearest virtual circular file as if it had never existed. If you’re very lucky, you might hear back that your application couldn’t be verified, giving you the chance to work the problem. And if you’re very, very lucky and a hiring manager has seen your application data or verification happen after the interview process, that hiring manager might try contacting your former employer to resolve the discrepancy. But here’s the thing. If you put down “Senior Software Engineer” or “Senior Data Center IT Support Technician” or “Solution Architect, Manufacturing Service Line” or “Territory Channel Manager,” or any of the thousands of job titles people have spent years working hard to earn, and the database contradicts that and says your title was merely “Associate” (an entry-level title usually used for low-skill, low-experience, junior-level jobs), your application is likely to be red-flagged, you’re unlikely to get the job, and you’re also likely to be considered a liar — or at least someone not worth further engagement. This brings us to Apple According to The Washington Post report, “In widely used databases that companies refer to for verification of job information, Apple changes the job title for every employee, whether they’re a PhD in computer science or a product manager, to associate”. If, as WashPo asserts, Apple conducts this practice, it could make it harder for former employees to find future work or at least be credited with the work they did in their higher-ranking positions. Reed Albergotti, author of The Washington Post article, reports he confirmed this behavior with Josh Rosenstock, who the WashPo story describes as a “corporate spokesman.” Rosenstock’s actual job title is a bit opaque. His LinkedIn bio lists his role simply as “Apple PR.” However, Rosenstock isn’t just a low-level PR associate. According to a report in PRWeek, he’s a “heavyweight,”  formerly Rolls-Royce’s director of external communications, who joined “Apple as director of corporate comms for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) region in a newly created role” in 2013. The Apple associate issue came to light because a former Apple engineer named Cher Scarlett filed a complaint with the SEC when Apple changed her title to associate when she left the company. Scarlett lists her title on LinkedIn as Principal Software Engineer. According to the Post’s report, the discrepancy “delayed the hiring process at a prospective employer by nearly a week, during which time the company rescinded the offer. Scarlett said the job verification service hired to vet her résumé was unable to resolve the discrepancy with Apple.” How common is this practice? According to The Washington Post report: When The Washington Post called InVerify’s customer support number, a customer service representative said Apple is the only company he knew of that changes job titles of employees when they leave. Apple also changes titles for employees who have taken a leave of absence, the person said. According to the WashPo report, InVerify’s rep — not a PR person, but an agent who answered the employment verification phone line — said he gets a “few calls a month” from

For smartphone enthusiasts looking forward to getting their hands on a better, faster, shinier version of their current device, there is bad news ahead. Analysts and equipment manufacturers alike are warning that the global shortage of chips is now set to hit the smartphone industry, meaning longer wait times and potentially higher prices.  Even the seemingly unconquerable Apple conceded in the company’s last earning calls that growth rates would slow down in the next quarter, partly due to component shortages causing longer lead times, and making it difficult to meet ever-increasing demand for iPhones.  Semiconductors, the components that power most consumer electronics, have been scarce for several months now, hitting industries ranging from car manufacturing to smart banking, and with little end in sight. And with demand for smartphones expected to explode in the next year, the difficulty of securing chips is likely to become a challenge even for tech behemoths like Apple or Samsung.   SEE: 5G smartphones: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic) But for Wayne Huang, vice president of product operations at sustainable phone manufacturer Fairphone, the current shortage of chips is only the symptom of a deeper underlying problem: the demand for smartphones is simply too high.  “From my perspective, the struggle to access enough components really shows how equipment manufacturers are used to compressed timelines. There is a norm of upgrade cycles, where you’re always trying to squeeze your product development in 10 to 12 months,” Huang tells ZDNet.  This, in turn, tempts users into replacing their devices frequently, as they find themselves wanting top-notch technology in their pockets.  Case in point: the launch of Apple’s 5G-enabled iPhone 12 at the end of last year prompted many loyal customers to upgrade their smartphones. The trend is now spilling over to the rest of the industry: tech analysis firm Gartner has found that global smartphone sales jumped by 26% at the start of 2021 compared to the same time last year, and that demand for handheld devices will keep growing throughout the next few months, in what analysts describe as a smartphone “supercycle”.  But this “supercycle” is by no means a first-of-a-kind. In a country like the USA, mobile phones are replaced on average every three years; and it is estimated that one billion devices ship every year across the world.  It isn’t surprising, therefore, that smartphone manufacturers are expected to be hit hard when some components are short. And while the current concern is with computer chips, shortages are expected to spread to other components too. Smartphones are also made of metals and materials ranging from gold to arsenic; and according to a recent study by the Royal Society of Chemistry, six of the key elements needed to build mobile phones will run out in the next 100 years.  These numbers only point to the huge resources that the current rate of demand for smartphones requires – as well as their unsustainable environmental footprint. Analysts estimate that the total annual carbon footprint of manufacturing mobile phones is equal to at least the annual carbon emissions of a small country.  Worst still, upgrading typically means discarding older devices, which more often than not end up in landfills. The World Economic Forum (WEF) says that smartphones contribute to approximately 10% of global e-waste – that is, roughly 50 million tons, or to put things into perspective, 300,000 double-decker buses.  As Huang explains, Fairphone’s answer to this problem is straightforward: put an end to what the company sees as unnecessary upgrading.   In contrast to its much larger competitors, the Netherlands-based company has made a name for itself with a rather counterintuitive approach to smartphone manufacturing. Instead of introducing new models every year, Fairphone leaves as long as technically possible between the generations of mobile phones that the company produces. Since 2013, when Fairphone’s first device was released, only four iterations of the handset have launched.  “The approach we take is that we plan more buffer in our product development cycle,” says Huang. “We spend a lot of time in our initial product concept, and we only launch a new product once we have defined what we want to achieve from an impact perspective.”  In other words, Fairphone’s designers refrain from launching new phones unless there is a good reason to upgrade. The latest Fairphone 3+, for example, has improved cameras specs compared to the Fairphone 3 – which was released in 2019, only because the company’s designers had figured out how to achieve a lower environmental footprint compared to the 2016 Fairphone 2.   Driving the company’s initiative is the goal of letting users hold on to their devices for as long as possible. This is why Fairphone has a modular approach to smartphone design. Fom the battery to the headphone jack, there are seven key components that make up the phone, which customers can easily replace to make their handset last longer – instead of buying a new device at the first sight of a cracked screen.   SEE: The best phones: Top 10 smartphones to buy now Customers even have the option to upgrade their old phone to new specs: the Fairphone 3+ camera, for instance, is available to buy as a module for €60 ($71), for the more DIY-capable owners to set up themselves on their older phones.  And as a manufacturer that relies on Android updates, Fairphone has committed to work to support software for over five years. Customers who bought a Fairphone 2 in 2016, therefore, were still able to receive an update to Android 9 this year.  Of course, the company is not the only one waving the sustainability flag, and the wider industry did not wait until the global shortage of chips to realize how resource-intensive smartphone manufacturing is.   Many equipment manufacturers have developed recycling programs in an attempt to improve the industry’s green credentials, by encouraging users to send their old phones to dedicated recycling centers, or prompting them to trade in their devices for credits towards their next purchases.  Apple has even deployed a robot called Daisy, which disassembles iPhones

Image: Getty Images Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Sony announced on Tuesday that they officially entered into a joint venture to build a new $7 billion fab in Japan, with the goal of mass-producing chips in that facility by 2024. TSMC CEO CC Wei had already announced the new fab was in development last month, but it was yet to receive board approval until Tuesday. Rather than focus on building cutting edge chips, the new fab will primarily build chips with 22 and 28nm processes to help ease the current global chip shortage. The new fab will be operated under a new joint venture between TSMC and Sony, called Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), with mass production scheduled to begin by the end of 2024. Sony will invest $500 million into the joint venture, which will give it no more than a 20% equity stake, with the remainder to be funded by TSMC. “While the global semiconductor shortage is expected to be prolonged, we expect partnership with TSMC to contribute to securing a stable supply of logic wafers, not only for us but also for the overall industry,” Sony Semiconductor Solutions CEO and president Terushi Shimizu said. In a separate TSMC update, the company’s board of directors also announced the company would invest over $9 billion into more fab construction and upgrading technology capacity, with that amount being separate from the money that will be used to invest into JASM. According to Nikkei, part of these funds will be put towards developing another domestic chipmaking facility in Kaohsiung. That fab will reportedly make cutting-edge 7nm chips, as well as less advanced 28nm chips. Earlier this year, Wei said the company has been increasing output for simpler chips used in the automotive industry, with the company expecting its production of these chips to be 60% higher than 2020 levels and 30% higher than 2018 pre-pandemic levels by year-end. The company has also announced plans to spend $100 billion over three years to boost capacity. Related Coverage source

Image: Getty Images The Australian Federal Court has granted an appeal submitted by Epic Games that will allow the games developer to go ahead with its legal fight against Apple down under. On Friday morning, three Federal court judges granted Epic Games’ appeal, which had sought to recommence a lawsuit that accuses Apple of misusing its market power to substantially lessen competition in the app distribution and payments market. Epic Games said it was pleased with the outcome and would continue to fight for increased competition in this space. “This is a positive step forward for Australian consumers and developers who are entitled to fair access and competitive pricing across mobile app stores. We look forward to continuing our fight for increased competition in app distribution and payment processing in Australia and around the world,” Epic Games said. The appeal arose in April after a lawsuit, accusing Apple of misusing its market power, was put on hold due to the presiding judge, Justice Nye Perram, believing the lawsuit was bound by exclusive jurisdiction clauses. The exclusive jurisdiction clauses block certain Australian lawsuits from going ahead if a similar matter is being heard in another country. When making that decision, Perram explained at the time he wanted to first see the outcome of a similar lawsuit being heard in the US before continuing with the Australian case. During the appellate hearing, however, three Federal Court judges found that Perram erred in granting a stay of the lawsuit as it involves fundamental public interest issues in relation to conduct undertaken in an Australian sub-market and involves an Australian company that is not itself a party to the exclusive jurisdiction clause. The judges explained that exploring the public interest issues at hand took priority over the exclusive jurisdiction clauses that were originally enforced by Perram. When making that decision, the judges took submissions from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which took part in the hearing as a non-party due to its role of being the statutory agency responsible for administering Australia’s competition law. The judges added that only limiting Epic Games to litigating these proceedings in the US would deprive the company of a legitimate forensic advantage that could be presented through Australian laws. “The focus should not only be on the nature of competition law, but the significance of the statutory provisions which allow the Commission to intervene, private parties to get the benefit of factual findings and admission, and the relevance of the Federal Court being chosen by the legislature as the court of its choice,” the judges wrote. With the case now set to recommence, both parties will meet again in court later this month for a case management hearing. The legal spat between the companies arose last year when Epic implemented an in-app payment system within Fortnite to circumvent paying a 30% commission fee to app marketplaces, such as the App Store and Google Play Store.   This led to Apple and Google both removing Fortnite from their respective marketplaces, citing that Epic breached its contractual obligations for residing in these app marketplaces.   Epic then clapped back by filing lawsuits against Apple and Google in the US, accusing the tech giants of conducting anti-competitive and monopolistic practices due to their 30% commission fee structures.  After those original lawsuits, Epic Games then raised additional lawsuits across various jurisdictions — including in Australia, the EU, and UK — that all raise similar allegations.  Related Coverage source

Image: Getty Images Amazon is looking to add 55,000 corporate and tech roles to continue its global expansion plans. Of those jobs, 40,000 will be based in the United States, company CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement. The other 15,000 roles will primarily be based in India, Germany, and Japan. “Amazon continues to grow quickly and relentlessly invent across many areas,” Jassy said. The hiring plans were first disclosed to Reuters, which reported the total hiring spree would be for roles in the areas of engineering, research science, and robotics. The expansion will also see Amazon’s corporate and tech workforce, currently comprised of 275,000 employees, increase by 20%, the report said. Also giving an update regarding Amazon’s employee workforce in its fulfilment centres and delivery network, Jassy said the company has hired around 50,000 people in the US after it announced in March that it was hiring 100,000 new full and part-time roles in its fulfilment centres and delivery network to cope with the COVID-19 panic buying.  The announcement of the latest hiring spree follows the company last year investing $1.4 billion into 905,000 square feet of new office space in the US for its “tech hubs”. The tech hubs are for Amazon’s tech and corporate employees, the company said at the time. Related Coverage source

The authors of the list explained that the latest edition saw little change compared to previous years. Image: Wenbin / Getty Images The latest update to the list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers saw only one new entry in the top 10, confirming that although these devices are still improving their performance, the pace of innovation is slowing down.   Perlmutter, a US-based supercomputer located at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, entered the June edition of the Top500 list in fifth position, bumping Nvidia’s Selene device to sixth place.  At 64.6 petaflops, Perlmutter is the most notable change to the list; it also fared well in the Green500 list, which focuses on the energy efficiency of supercomputers, claiming number six spot thanks to a power efficiency of 25.55 gigaflops per watt.  SEE: Hiring Kit: Computer Hardware Engineer (TechRepublic Premium) In total, there were only 58 new entries in the Top500 list. This is not far off the record-low of 44 new entrants registered last November, and indicates a slowdown compared to earlier years. In 2007, for example, 300 new devices made it to the ranking.  This is mostly blamed on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, which drove investment in commercial high-performance computing systems to an all-time low.  The authors of the list admitted that the latest edition “saw little change”, with Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer still retaining a strong lead in the number-one spot.  Fugaku came online last March and boasts a record-breaking 442 petaflops – meaning that it is three times more performant than the nearest competitor, IBM’s Summit, which is hosted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and claims 148.8 petaflops.   A product of a partnership between Riken and Fujitsu, Fugaku uses Fujitsu’s custom ARM processor, which has enabled the device to reach peak performance of over an exaflop. “Such an achievement has caused some to introduce this machine as the first ‘exascale’ supercomputer,” said the Top500 authors.  Exascale computations can perform a quintillion calculations each second, and are expected to significantly speed up applications ranging from precision medicine to climate simulation. China, the US and the EU have all unveiled aggressive goals to achieve exascale computing systems in the next few years.  In Japan’s Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST), Fugaku is set to advance a selected 74 scientific projects, many of which aim to accelerate research to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, such as early detection of disease or high-speed and high-precision drug discovery simulations.  Competing behind Fugaku, the rest of the list’s top 10 remained largely the same, with IBM’s Sierra in third place following the company’s Summit supercomputer.   China saw a significant drop in the number of devices it can claim on the list. From 212 Chinese machines featuring on the previous iteration, the country now accounts for 186 supercomputers on the Top500 list.   “There hasn’t been much definitive proof of why this is happening, but it is certainly something to note,” said the list’s authors.  Despite the drop, China still dominates the Top500: the next biggest competitor, the USA, lags behind with 123 systems on the list. This has led some researchers to conclude that the gap between the two countries is rapidly closing.  It remains true, however, that the performance of Chinese supercomputers is far outstripped by other systems. The USA has an aggregate performance of 856.8 petaflops per second, while China’s machines produce on average 445.3 petaflops per second.  SEE: The global chip shortage will be a long-lasting problem. Here’s what it means for you, and for the world In another noteworthy development, the Top500’s authors highlighted the marked increase in the use of AMD processors, especially among the few new entries. The company’s EPYC processors power half of the 58 new contestants, and three of the devices included in the top 10 – Perlmutter, Selene and Germany’s Juwels Booster Module.  Compared to the same time last year, AMD noted that EYMC systems also power five times more supercomputers throughout the entire list.  “We are committed to enabling the performance and capabilities needed to advance scientific discoveries, break the exascale barrier, and continue driving innovation,” said Forrest Morrod, senior vice president of the data center and embedded systems group at AMD.  In terms of system interconnects, the authors observed little change, with ethernet used in around half of the systems. A third of the supercomputers leveraged Infiniband and less than a tenth relied on OmniPath. Custom interconnects accounted for 37 systems.  source