Bad news for Intel for two days in a row. Fujitsu yesterday took the wraps off a new CPU made for supercomputers that can perform 128 billion computations per second, which is 2.5 times faster than the super processor of the current record holder Intel.

The prototype is fabricated using a 45-nanometer process and consists of a total of eight cores. Fujitsu says the new CPU, dubbed Venus, also consumes just one third of the power the Intel chip uses. The company expects the processor not only to be sold to makers of super computers but also to the industry. One possible area of usage is product development, i.e. in research for new drugs.

Fujitsu is now the first Japanese company in about 10 years to hold the record. Practical application of Venus is expected to take place “within several years”.

Via PC Watch [JP]