The computer is called GPU-based Tesla Personal Supercomputer, which delivers the equivalent computing power of a cluster, at 1/100th of the price and in a form factor of a standard desktop workstation. Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer, NVIDIA, announced the launch of the supercomputer in the city at a press conference.

The supercomputer was launched in California on Wednesday. The price of the supercomputer is around $10,000. "Today, scientific research is carried out on supercomputing clusters, a shared resource that consumes hundreds of kilowatts of power and costs millions of dollars to build and maintain. As a result, researchers must fight for time on these resources, slowing their work and delaying results. The supercomputer will help them overcome these hurdles," said Huang.

Leading institutions including MIT, the Max Planck Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Cambridge University, and others are already advancing their research using GPU-based personal supercomputers, he said. "The sky is the limit for its uses but presently, it will be useful in areas like astrophysics, atomic research, pharmacy, life sciences and even in gaming and animation," said Huang. "GPU-based systems enable researchers to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier.

This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs," he added.