China ‘has decided not to fan the flames on supercomputing rivalry’ amid US tensions
- According to the Top500 list published last week, the US has retained its top position as the producer of the fastest supercomputers in the world
China chose not to confront the US directly in the field of supercomputing before the Trump administration’s recent decision to add five Chinese high-performance computing companies to its trade blacklist, according to people familiar with the matter.
Chinese decision makers decided to withhold the country’s newest Shuguang supercomputers from the latest supercomputing contest, even though they operate more than 50 per cent faster than the best current US machines, as China does not want to fan the flames of existing trade tensions, said the sources, who declined to be named as the information is private.
According to the Top500 list published last week, the US has retained its top position as the producer of the fastest supercomputers in the world. China, which has not introduced any new machines in recent months, is in second place. The Top500 list is released twice a year, once in June and again in November.
The newest Shuguang supercomputers, currently located at the computer network information Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, are capable of performing more than 200 petaflops. A petaflop refers to one quadrillion (or a million billion) calculations per second.
The Shuguang supercomputers’ abilities far exceed the US leaders in the chart, Summit and Sierra, two IBM-built supercomputers that delivered a record 148.6 petaflops and 94.6 petaflops in the June contest respectively, said the people.
“China is finding itself with no choice but to create its own alternatives to US technology,” said Paul Haswell, a partner who advises technology companies at international law firm Pinsent Masons.