STRETCH was the code name for the International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation's first line of supercomputers, the IBM Stretch 7030; where the first unit was completed in 1961. A supercomputer is a large, very fast, and expensive computer used for quite complex calculations. Unlike conventional computers, supercomputers usually contain several central processing units (CPUs).

The story of the STRETCH supercomputer started in 1954 when IBM began a project called "Datatron" with the intention of growing into a leader of high-performance computers. Remington-Rand, which at the time was a dominant computer manufacturer and IBM's main competitor, won a contract (over IBM) to build the Livermore Automatic Research Computer (LARC) by promising a fast delivery time. IBM's bid was based on a renegotiation clause for its proposed machine that would be four to five times faster than requested and cost $3.5 million rather than the requested $2.5 million. When IBM lost the bid...