China bytes back with fastest computer (3)

（China Daily） 08:38, June 18, 2013

Photo taken on June 16, 2013 shows the supercomputer Tianhe-2 developed by China's National University of Defense Technology. The supercomputer Tianhe-2, capable of operating as fast as 33.86 petaflops per second, was ranked on Monday as the world's fastest computing system, according to TOP500, a project ranking the 500 most powerful computer systems in the world. (Xinhua/Long Hongtao)

Bright prospects

Researchers in Europe have called for more cooperation.

Sebastian Schmidt, an expert at the Juelich Research Center in Germany, said that the performance of Tianhe-2 and the design team are amazing.

"Development of supercomputers in the future will require much closer international collaboration, since it takes joint efforts to combat global challenges and to find solutions," Schmidt said.

Li, the deputy chief designer, said that the Juelich Research Center is now cooperating with the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin on some challenging computational projects.

"By joining hands with China, Europe will also reduce its dependence on the United States in the area of supercomputing," he said.

Despite great progress, Liao, the chief designer, said that there remains huge room for improvement in energy efficiency, software application and development of a new generation of CPU.

"In the future, we hope domestic demands for supercomputing are fully tapped to stimulate us to design and produce supercomputers with better performance," Liao said.

China's supercomputing dream started in 1978 when then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping chose the National University of Defense Technology as one of the major institutions to develop China's own supercomputer.

Five years later, China's first supercomputer Yinhe-I came into being, which could perform 100 million calculations per second.

Supercomputing drew people's attention again in 2007, when Dawning, vendor of the Nebulae supercomputer, helped China National Petroleum Corporation discover 100 million metric tons of oil reserves under Nanpu in Hebei province.