The supercomputer industry in light of the TOP500 data

The Top500 list, which has been updated semiannually in June and November, ranks the 500 most powerful computers installed worldwide. The capabilities of top-ranked machines are the product of how many processors they have and what each one can do. Three main factors limit number of processors used in large-scale machine such as cost, management, and effective usage by applications. Investigating the fraction of machines installed in industry location shows that the industry share of machines has doubled since the mid 1990s and peaked at over 52 percent in 2001.