Supercomputers have always been a key tool in the field of science and technology, and their powerful computing power has provided important support for technological progress in various industries. Tesla's self-driving technology has developed thanks to a supercomputer with one of the world's top 10 processors, which can perform exascale calculations per second. Since the launch of its first supercomputer, Tianhe-1, in 2009, China has made remarkable achievements through continuous technological upgrading and research and development. Among them, the Sunway Taihu Light supercomputer is based on domestic chips and ranks among the top in the world. The newly developed Tianhe Xingyi supercomputer will make its debut at the 2022 Supercomputing Technology and Application Conference, and its powerful computing power makes it the most powerful supercomputer on the supercomputing list currently released in China.
The rise of China's supercomputers is inseparable from the support of advanced technology, because high technology without exception requires powerful computing power to drive. When Tesla was researching driverless technology, it successfully developed a supercomputer with a processing speed that ranked among the top ten processors in the world, which greatly promoted the research of driverless algorithms. The development of China's supercomputer is also gradually moving towards the international frontier stage in this context.
The development of China's supercomputer can be traced back to 2009, when China's first supercomputer, Tianhe-1, used Intel's CPU and AMD's graphics processor, and its computing speed reached 1206MB s, ranking fourth in the global supercomputing rankings. Subsequently, in 2013, China launched Tianhe-2, a supercomputer with a computing speed of up to 549 trillion seconds (54..)9pflops), which became the world's fastest supercomputer at the time, and topped the global top 500 for six consecutive times. The Tianhe-2 was originally planned to be updated in 2017, but due to concerns about China's supercomputing capabilities in the United States, Intel and AMD have been banned from China's supercomputer since 2015, resulting in the system update plan being delayed. China then turned to its own chips to replace Intel's, because without Intel's chips, supercomputers would not be able to run. Therefore, China has developed a Sunway Taihu Light supercomputer based on the domestic Shenwei CPU, which can achieve a maximum computing speed of 12500 million operations per second (125 pflops), ranking among the highest in the world.
Recently, at the Guangzhou Supercomputer Research Center, an upgraded version of Tianhe-2"Tianhe Xingyi"It will be officially unveiled at the 2022 Supercomputing Technology and Application Conference. The supercomputer abandoned Intel's CPU and adopted a domestic CPU, which had 159744 cores, the computing power can reach up to 620 pflops, which is equivalent to 6.2 billion calculations per second. This achievement surpasses"Kamui"Taihu Light is also the most powerful supercomputer on the supercomputing list released in China.
China's supercomputers have made great achievements on the global stage, but there is still a gap between them and the most powerful supercomputers in the United States. Taking the Frontier supercomputer in the United States as an example, its computing power is as high as 1194 pflops, nearly twice as fast as Tianhe Xingyi. If the computing power of Tianhe Xingyi ranks second in the world, then the computing power of the supercomputer of the Milky Way Galaxy is 58534pflops, the gap is obvious.
Although China's supercomputers are lacking in the global rankings, China's own supercomputing development has made remarkable achievements. On the one hand, the core technology of China's supercomputing has gradually reached the world's leading level. Both Tianhe-2 and Sunway Taihu Light have completely adopted domestic processor chips, reducing dependence on external technologies and providing opportunities for China's chip innovation. On the other hand, China has also made great progress in software research and development, continuously optimizing and strengthening the application capabilities of supercomputers, and improving the overall level of domestic scientific and technological innovation.
The continuous development of China's supercomputers has not only enhanced the country's scientific and technological strength, but also brought great opportunities for technological innovation in all walks of life. Supercomputers have a wide range of applications in climate simulation, medical research, energy development, and other fields. For example, when it comes to climate, the computing power of supercomputers can help scientists simulate the laws and trends of climate change, providing people with accurate weather forecasts and climate change**. In medical research, supercomputers can speed up the drug development process, help scientists better understand disease mechanisms, and find new methods and drugs. In terms of energy development, supercomputers can optimize the operational efficiency of power systems, oil exploration, nuclear energy research and development, and improve the sustainable development of the energy industry.
China has made remarkable achievements in the research and development of supercomputers, and is constantly moving towards the status of a world scientific and technological power. Through independent innovation and self-reliance, China's supercomputers have achieved important breakthroughs in both hardware and software. However, China still faces a certain gap compared to the development of state-of-the-art supercomputers. In the future, China should continue to increase investment in the research and development of supercomputers and improve its core technical capabilities to achieve the goal of surpassing the international advanced level. The continuous development of supercomputers will bring a huge boost to China's scientific and technological innovation and national economic development, and promote China to become a world science and technology power.