Supercomputing in China

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Distribution of supercomputers in the TOP500 list by country, June 2016

China operates a number of supercomputer centers which, altogether, hold 29.3% performance share of world's fastest 500 supercomputers.[1][2] The origins of these centers go back to 1989, when the State Planning Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission and the World Bank jointly launched a project to develop networking and supercomputer facilities in China. In addition to network facilities, the project included three supercomputer centers.[3] China's Sunway TaihuLight ranks third in the TOP500 list.

In the November 2019 list, China dominated the globe's highest performance machines list with 228 out of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world, exceeding the second placing (United States) which had 117.[4]

History[]

Comparison (June 2018)[5]
Country Top speed (Rmax)
(Tflops) 		Number of
computers
in TOP500
 China 93014.6 206
 United States 122300.0 124
 Japan 19880.0 36
 United Kingdom 7038.9 22
 Germany 6177.7 21
 France 5283.1 18
 Netherlands 1649.1 9
 South Korea 13929.3 7
 Ireland 1649.1 7
 Canada 4608.0 6

The progress of supercomputing in China has been rapid; the country's most powerful supercomputer placed 43rd in November 2002 (DeepComp 1800[6]), 11th by November 2003 (DeepComp 6800[7]), 10th by June 2004 (Dawning 4000A[8]), and by November 2010 (Tianhe-1A[9]) held top spot. China would go on to fall behind Japan in June 2011 until June 2013 when the country's most powerful supercomputer once again clocked in as the world record.[10]

Prior to the Sunway TaihuLight, Chinese supercomputers have used "off the shelf" processors, e.g. Tianhe-I uses thousands of Intel and Nvidia chips, and uses the Linux operating system which is open-source software. However, to avoid possible future technology embargo restrictions, the Chinese are developing their own processors such as the Loongson, a MIPS type processor.[2][10]

According to the MIT Technology Review, the Loongson processor would power the Dawning supercomputers by 2012, producing a line of totally Chinese-made supercomputers that reach petaflop speeds.[11]

In April 2021, seven Chinese supercomputing entities were added to the Entity List of the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.[12]

Supercomputing centers[]

SCCAS[]

The Supercomputing Center of the China Academy of Sciences (SCCAS) provides academic support functions to the National Centers. SCCAS, which is located in Beijing, is the Northern main node and operation center for China National Grid (CNGrid).[13]

Guangzhou[]

The National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou operates the fourth most powerful supercomputer in the world (as of June 2018) Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2),[14] which runs at 33,000 teraflops. It also operates the Tianhe-1A Guangzhou Solution – NUDT YH MPP supercomputer that runs at 211 teraflops.[15]

Changsha[]

Foundations for a new major branch of the National Supercomputing Center (国家超级计算中心 Guójiā Chāojíjìsuàn Zhōngxīn) were laid in Changsha on 28 November 2010.[16] It operates the Tianhe-1A Hunan Solution – NUDT YH MPP supercomputer which runs at 1342 teraflops.[17]

Jinan[]

The operates the Sunway BlueLight MPP supercomputer that runs at 795 teraflops.[18]

Shanghai[]

The Shanghai Supercomputer Center operates the Magic Cube-II supercomputer that runs at 400 teraflops.[19][20]

Shenzhen[]

The National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen houses the second fastest machine in China, and the third fastest in the world.[21] In May 2010 the Nebulae computer in Shenzhen placed second on the Top 500 supercomputer list, after the Cray computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.[22]

Tianjin[]

The National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin is one of the main centers. It houses the Tianhe-I supercomputer which in October 2010 became the top speed record holder in the world by consistently operating at 2.507 petaflops. The Tianjin Computer Institute had been active as far back as 1984 when it developed the 16-bit TQ-0671 microcomputer system.[23] A commercial affiliate of the Tianjin center had previously made the PHPC100 personal supercomputer in 2008 which was about twice the size of a normal desktop computer, but had 40 times the speed. In 2010 a second generation model was released.[24]

Wuxi[]

The houses the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer, the 4th most powerful supercomputer in the world as of November 2020.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "TOP500 - LIST STATISTICS". TOP500. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Vance, Ashlee (28 October 2010). "China Wrests Supercomputer Title From U.S." The New York Times.
  3. ^ Xing Fan (2001). Communications and information in China. pp. 39–42, 90. ISBN 0-7618-1950-9.
  4. ^ "China Extends Lead in Number of TOP500 Supercomputers, US Holds on to Performance Advantage". TOP500.org. 18 November 2019.
  5. ^ "TOP500 List – June 2019". TOP500. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  6. ^ "DeepComp 1800". TOP500. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  7. ^ "DeepComp 6800". TOP500. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Dawning 4000A". TOP500. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Tianhe-1A". TOP500. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Graham, Susan L.; Snir, Marc; Patterson, Cynthia A. (2005). Getting up to speed: the future of supercomputing. p. 188. ISBN 0-309-09502-6.
  11. ^ Mims, Christopher (21 October 2010). "Chinese Chip Closes in on Intel, AMD". MIT Technology Review.
  12. ^ Shepardson, David (8 April 2021). "U.S. adds Chinese supercomputing entities to economic blacklist". Reuters. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  13. ^ "China National Grid". CNGrid Operation Center. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2) – TH-IVB-FEP Cluster, Intel Xeon E5-2692 12C 2.200GHz, TH Express-2, Intel Xeon Phi 31S1P". Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  15. ^ Top 500 Archived 23 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, also the world's fastest when it was launched in 2010.
  16. ^ Article 29 November 2010 国家超级计算中心落户长沙
  17. ^ Top 500 Archived 18 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "National Supercomputing Center in Jinan". Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  19. ^ "Shanghai Supercomputer Center". Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  20. ^ "Magic Cube supercomputer starts operation in Shanghai". Xinhua. 15 June 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009.
  21. ^ Tania Branigan. "China's Tianhe-1A takes supercomputer crown from US". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  22. ^ Fildes, Jonathan (31 May 2010). "China aims to become computer superpower". BBC News.
  23. ^ United States Committee on Science and Technology (July 1987). Technology transfer to China. p. 96. LCCN 87619823. OCLC 624084757.
  24. ^ "China to launch second generation of PHPC100 personal supercomputer in June". Financial Technology Spotlight. 14 April 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
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