# Investigating Supercomputer Performance with Sustainability in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
## 5 Results and Discussion
### Core Counts  
Figure 2 illustrates the stark difference in the number of cores between top-performing supercomputers in Figure 2A,C and top-EE supercomputers in Figure 2B,D. The top-performing supercomputers boast core counts in the millions, whereas the core counts of the top-energy-efficiency supercomputers are typically limited to the thousands. Notably, in 2024, none of the supercomputers categorized as top-EE supercomputers has more than 500,000 cores. On the contrary, among the top-performing supercomputers, every system has at least 1 million cores. An exception to this trend is observed where only _EoS_ and _MareNostrum_ fall below the 1-million-core threshold among the top-performing supercomputers. Figure 2: Supercomputer core counts for 2024: (**A,C**) core counts of the top-performing supercomputers in November and June, respectively; (**B,D**) core counts of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in November and June, respectively. Figure 3 shows the core counts of supercomputers listed in the top-performing and top-energy-efficiency categories for the year 2023. With the exception of _MareNostrum_ and _EoS_, the top-performing supercomputers have core counts ranging from at least 1 million to over 10 million, as seen in _Sunway_. In contrast, the top-EE supercomputers consistently maintain core counts in the thousands, similar to the trend observed in 2024. Interestingly, _Frontier_ and _LUMI_, despite having millions of cores, managed to secure spots in the top 10 EE rankings, appearing in both the top 10 performance (Figure 3A,C) and top 10 EE rankings (Figure 3B,D) categories. In addition, _MareNostrum_, with 680,960 cores, just less than 1 million, also achieved positions in both rankings, highlighting its versatility in balancing performance with sustainability. Figure 4 presents the core counts of supercomputers listed in both the top performance rankings (Figure 4A,C) and the top EER rankings (Figure 4B,D) for 2022. Similar to the trends observed in 2023 and 2024, the core counts of top-performing supercomputers are generally in the millions, with the exceptions of _Perlmutter_, _Selene_, and _Adastra_. On the contrary, the core counts for supercomputers in the top EE rankings remain in the thousands, except for _LUMI_ and _Frontier_, which stand out with millions of cores. Notably, _Frontier_ and _LUMI_ demonstrate exceptional balance by securing positions in both the top 10 supercomputers in terms of performance and the top 10 EE rankings, despite the large core counts. Additionally, _Adastra_, with fewer than 500,000 cores, is listed in both rankings, showcasing how a mix of hundreds of thousands of cores and millions of cores can achieve a balance between top computational performance and sustainability. A particularly remarkable observation is _Frontier_'s position as the top-performing supercomputer, holding the number one spot, while ranking second in the top-EE category. This achievement highlights an impressive balance between unparalleled computational power and sustainability,  
Figure 3: Supercomputer core counts for 2023: core counts of the top-performing supercomputers for (**A**) November and (**C**) June; core counts of the most energy-efficient supercomputers for (**B**) November and (**D**) June. marking a significant milestone in the history of supercomputing for its focus on balancing performance with sustainability. Figure 5 presents the core counts of the top-performing supercomputers (Figure 5A,C) and top-energy-efficiency supercomputers (Figure 5B,D) for 2021. Among the top-performing supercomputers, the core counts exhibit a balanced distribution: 50% have core counts in the millions, while the other 50% have core counts in the hundreds of thousands. This pattern is consistent in both November and June, where half of the supercomputers have fewer than 1 million cores. Despite changes in the top performance rankings with new entries, this 50%-50% ratio in core counts remains a consistent trend.