A Chinese supercomputer has been ranked the world’s second-fastest machine, surpassing European and Japanese systems and underscoring China’s aggressive commitment to science and technology.
The Dawning Nebulae, based at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, has achieved a sustained computing speed of 1.27 petaflops — the equivalent of one thousand trillion mathematical operations a second — in the latest semi-annual ranking of the world’s fastest 500 computers.
The newest ranking was made public on Monday at the International Supercomputer Conference in Hamburg, Germany. Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems ranging from climate simulation to automotive design.
The Chinese machine is actually now ranked as the world’s fastest in terms of theoretical peak performance, but that is considered a less significant measure than the computing speed achieved on a standardized computing test.
The world’s fastest computer remains the Cray Jaguar supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. In November it was measured at 1.75 petaflops.
In the previous year’s ranking, the Chinese had the fifth-fastest computer, a system that was based at a National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin. That machine has dropped to seventh place.
The US continues to be the dominant maker of supercomputers, and is the nation with the most machines in the top 500. The US has 282 of the world’s fastest 500 computers on the new list, an increase from 277 when the rankings were compiled in November and 55.4 percent of installed performance.
Boosted by Nebulae’s performance, China rose to No. 2 overall, with 24 of the systems on the list and 9.2 percent of global supercomputing capacity, up from 21 systems six months ago.
Europe had 144 systems on the list, including 38 in Britain, 29 in France and 24 in Germany. Japan had 18 supercomputers on the list, up from 16 six months ago, and India had five.
The Nebulae reflects China’s continued reliance on foreign know-how. It was built by Dawning Information Industry but uses processors from Intel and Nvidia.
China, however, appears intent on challenging US dominance.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of this year they surpass the scientific computing power of the EU countries combined and have a computer system with an achieved performance to reach the No. 1 position on the top 500,” said Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee and one of the researchers who has organized the twice-yearly rankings.
Americans designed the first machines that were defined as supercomputers during the 1960s, and the US has rarely been dislodged from its controlling position as technology leader. In 2002 the Japanese government’s Earth Simulator set off anxiety in Washington when that system briefly claimed the position.
The US then began investing heavily in the computing systems, breaking the petaflop barrier in 2008. It is preparing for a sustained push to build systems capable of computing at what is known as exascale performance — 1,000 times faster than today’s fastest systems. The goal is to reach that technological achievement by 2020.
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