For the first time, China has finally earned the right to boast its technological prowess to the world by building the world's fastest supercomputer that runs on Chinese-made semiconductors. The breakthrough is an indication of the Chinese steady rise to challenge US technological dominance worldwide.
According to Top500, a research organization that publishes biannual rankings of the world's fastest supercomputers, the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer is reportedly twice as powerful as the previous record holder. Currently housed at the government-backed Chinese Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, the machine runs on SW26010 processor made by Shanghai High Performance IC Design Center. In addition, China also has the most number of supercomputers on the list other than the United States.
"It's not based on an existing architecture. They built it themselves. This is a system that has Chinese processors," said University of Tennessee professor Jack Dongarra, the creator behind the measurement method used by TOP500, Bloomberg reported.
For those in scientific circles, supercomputers are largely considered as a manifestation of technology leadership as they play an important role in various areas of research like in weapons development, aeronautics and space science, car design, and more.
US-based experts on computer science as well as a number of American business leaders have long warned of the China's rise in supercomputing capability which allowed the country to make extensive gains in science and technology in recent years.
"Today even consumer detergent bottles are designed with supercomputers," said Eric D. Isaacs, a physicist and provost of the University of Chicago as quoted by New York Times. "The Chinese are getting good at building these computers, and it's a competitive issue now for U.S. industry and national security."
Meanwhile, the US government has already banned an export of all advanced and high-performance processors to China, citing the need to protect American national interests. Previously, the world's fastest supercomputer was China's Tianhe-2 but was created with the use of Intel-made computing chips. Following earlier allegations that China used its Tianhe-1A supercomputer (with US-made processors) for "nuclear explosive activities," US started imposing the ban on April 2015, The Verge reported.
China, on the other hand, responded by heavily funding a national research and development program called "863", a government-led project aimed at cutting China's dependence on foreign technology. Fifteen years ago, no Chinese-designed supercomputers made it to the top 500 list. As of now, however, China's share has significantly increased with 167 supercomputers compared to America's 165.
