Computer major IBM claims it has developed the Blue Gene/L to be the world's most powerful computer, pushing the current ranker Japan's Earth Simulator to the second slot.

The Blue Gene/L system could perform over 36,000 bn calculations a second during tests, the company says and this will increase by a ten factor by the time the full version is installed next year at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The company team hopes eventually to reach a petaflop of speed, although they do not put a date on when this will be achieved, a Nature magazine report said.

The device, which will eventually be used to simulate everything from the behaviour of explosives to stars, was developed by IBM in just five years, Nature said.

The magazine said although experts have for long predicted top status for the system, the company's claims are unlikely to be independently verified until November when the next worldwide supercomputer league-table is published.

Blue Gene/L's current competitor, the Simulator, best known for running high-resolution climate models and with a speed of 35,860 bn has the held the first slot since June 2002.