It's Not You, It's Us

Two private companies working on Japan's bid to build the fastest supercomputer have pulled out due to a need to cut costs, reports Science Insider. NEC and Hitachi have withdrawn from the Next-Generation Supercomputer project, a 7-year, $1 billion project to support academic and industrial research. The project is financed by Japan's Ministry of Education and supported by RIKEN, universities, and private companies. NEC and Hitachi were involved in designing processors for the supercomputer. In a statement NEC said that investing in the project "would significantly impact earnings for the fiscal year ending in March 2010."