IBM 7030

supercomputer

Also known as: Stretch

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Last updated

July 19, 2026

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The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was a supercomputer developed by IBM in 1961. It was designed for scientific applications and was intended to be the fastest computer on Earth at the time. However, it faced challenges due to IBM's slow adoption of transistor technology and found few buyers, resulting in a significant financial loss for the company. The Stretch was eventually surpassed in speed by the CDC 6600 in 1964, marking a temporary withdrawal of IBM from the supercomputer field. Supercomputers, in general, are characterized by their high-performance capabilities, often utilizing multiple central processing units (CPUs) and advanced technologies to perform extremely fast computations for scientific and engineering work.1

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Fred Brooks
…where he worked on the IBM 7030 (known as Stretch), a supercomputer ordered by the U.S. National Security Agency for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Together with Dura Sweeney, Brooks invented the computer’s interrupt system, which is used to recognize different computing “events” that require immediate attention and to synchronize…
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…where he worked on the IBM 7030 (known as Stretch), a supercomputer ordered by the U.S. National Security Agency for the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Together with Dura Sweeney, Brooks invented the computer’s interrupt system, which is used to recognize different computing “events” that require immediate attention and to synchronize…
Read More