The introduction of the microprocessor integrated circuit (IC) in 1971 gave birth to two new categories of computer, the microcomputer and the supercomputer. The microcomputer developed first, drawing on the sudden progress in miniaturization represented by the microprocessor. Shortly thereafter, as further scientific breakthroughs doubled the microprocessor's speed and complexity each year, the term "supercomputer" came to be used to designate whatever computer currently contained the largest number of ICs, had the highest speed, and (usually) sold for the highest price.

The Cray 1 Computer, designed by Seymour Cray, founder of Cray Research of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is generally regarded as the first supercomputer. Containing two hundred thousand ICs, it operated at one hundred fifty megaflops, which means one hundred fifty million floating point calculations per second. A floating point calculation is the addition, subtraction, multiplication or division of two very large or small numbers of the type described in...