High-performance computing

High-performance computing (HPC) is like a bigger, faster computer. It is made up of many individual computers (called 'nodes'), which are combined together and work together to solve very big and difficult problems. When the individual computers (or 'nodes') are connected together, the combination is a lot faster than any one of the individual computers alone. HPC is used for very big, complicated calculations that would take a regular computer a very long time- maybe even days, weeks, or years- to calculate.