Supercomputing in China
Encyclopedia
The People's Republic of China
operates a number of supercomputer
centers which hold world records in speed.
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 network
ing and supercomputer facilities in China. In addition to network facilities, the project included three supercomputer centers. According to professor Jack Dongarra
, the Chinese are making a deep commitment to supercomputing.
The progress of supercomputing in China
in the early part of the 21st century has been dramatic, in that it placed 51st in June 2003, then 14th in November 2003 and 10th in June 2004 and then 5th during 2005. By mid-2010 it had reached the 2nd spot and at the end of 2010 the top spot.
To date, Chinese supercomputers have used "off the shelf" processors, e.g. Tianhe-1 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.
According to the MIT Technology Review, the Loongson processor will power the Dawning supercomputers
by 2012, producing a line of totally Chinese made supercomputers that reach petaflop speeds.
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. 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.
houses the second fastest machine in China, and the third fastest in the world. 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.
operates the Magic Cube supercomputer that runs at 230 teraflops, significantly below the Tianhe-I speed.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
operates a number of supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
centers which hold world records in speed.
The origins of these centers go back to 1989, when the State Planning Commission
State Planning Commission
State Planning Commission may refer to:# Gosplan, ministry of Soviet Union# State Planning Commission of China, former name of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China....
, the State Science and Technology Commission and the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
jointly launched a project to develop network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
ing and supercomputer facilities in China. In addition to network facilities, the project included three supercomputer centers. According to professor Jack Dongarra
Jack Dongarra
Jack J. Dongarra is a University Distinguished Professor of Computer Sciencein the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Tennessee...
, the Chinese are making a deep commitment to supercomputing.
Progress
| Country | Top speed (Tflops FLOPS In computing, FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating-point calculations, similar to the older, simpler, instructions per second... ) |
Number of computers in TOP500 TOP500 The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year... |
|---|---|---|
 Mainland China |
2566 | 61 |
 Early Modern France |
1050 | 25 |
 Germany |
826 | 30 |
 Japan |
8162 | 26 |
 Russia |
350 | 12 |
 South Korea |
316 | 4 |
| 275 | 27 | |
 United States |
1759 | 255 |
The progress of supercomputing in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in the early part of the 21st century has been dramatic, in that it placed 51st in June 2003, then 14th in November 2003 and 10th in June 2004 and then 5th during 2005. By mid-2010 it had reached the 2nd spot and at the end of 2010 the top spot.
To date, Chinese supercomputers have used "off the shelf" processors, e.g. Tianhe-1 uses thousands of Intel
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
and Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
chips, and uses the Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
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
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
processor.
According to the MIT Technology Review, the Loongson processor will power the Dawning supercomputers
Dawning Information Industry
Dawning Information Industry is a supercomputer manufacturer in the People's Republic of China. Its Dawning 4000A and Dawning 5000A clusters were both ranked tenth in June 2004 and November 2008 TOP500 lists respectively...
by 2012, producing a line of totally Chinese made supercomputers that reach petaflop speeds.
Tianjin
The National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin is one of the main centers. It houses the Tianhe-ITianhe-I
Tianhe-I, Tianhe-1, or TH-1 , in English, "Milky Way Number One", is a supercomputer capable of an Rmax of 2.566 petaFLOPS...
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
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
system. A commercial affiliate of the Tianjin center had previously made the PHPC100 personal supercomputer
Personal supercomputer
A personal supercomputer is a computer built for the demand of a powerful computer system. On the civil basis, PSCs are typically built by the user. However government computers have been built by contract companies and/or governmental experts. Although considerably more expensive than a personal...
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.
Beijing
The Supercomputing Center of the China Academy of Sciences (SCCAS) provides academic support functions to the National Centers.Shenzhen
The National Supercomputing Center in ShenzhenNational Supercomputing Center (Shenzhen)
The National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen houses the second fastest machine in China, and the third fastest in the world. 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...
houses the second fastest machine in China, and the third fastest in the world. In May 2010 the Nebulae
Nebulae (computer)
Nebulae is a petascale supercomputer located at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Built from a Dawning TC3600 Blade system with Intel Xeon X5650 processors and Nvidia Tesla C2050 GPUs, it has a peak performance of 1.271 petaflops using the LINPACK benchmark suite...
computer in Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
placed second on the Top 500 supercomputer list, after the Cray computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
in Tennessee.
Shanghai
The Shanghai Supercomputer CenterShanghai Supercomputer Center
Shanghai Supercomputer Center , founded on December 2000, was invested by Shanghai Municipal Government. With its world-class facilities and quality services, Shanghai Supercomputer Center offers high performance computing, technical support and technical consulting services to wide range of...
operates the Magic Cube supercomputer that runs at 230 teraflops, significantly below the Tianhe-I speed.
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.See also
- TOP500TOP500The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year...
- History of supercomputingHistory of supercomputingThe history of supercomputing goes back to the 1960s when a series of computers at Control Data Corporation were designed by Seymour Cray to use innovative designs and parallelism to achieve superior computational peak performance...
- Personal supercomputerPersonal supercomputerA personal supercomputer is a computer built for the demand of a powerful computer system. On the civil basis, PSCs are typically built by the user. However government computers have been built by contract companies and/or governmental experts. Although considerably more expensive than a personal...
- Supercomputing in EuropeSupercomputing in EuropeSeveral centers for supercomputing exist across Europe, and distributed access to them is coordinated by European initiatives to facilitate high-performance computing...
- Supercomputing in IndiaSupercomputing in IndiaIndia's supercomputer program was started in late 1980s because Cray supercomputers were denied for import due to an arms embargo imposed on India, as it was a dual use technology and could be used for developing nuclear weapons....
- Supercomputing in JapanSupercomputing in JapanJapan operates a number of centers for supercomputing which hold world records in speed, with the K computer becoming the world's fastest in June 2011....