As reporter of the First Finance News learns from insiders of the Dawning Company, China is carrying out research on a supercomputer with a peak calculation speed exceeding 100 teraflops per second. The program may be jointly carried out by the National Research Center for Intelligent Computing systems (NCIC) and the Dawing Company.

Sources say the 100 teraflops super computer may adopt China-developed Longxin processor. But a person with the marketing department of Dawning says, "There is little possibility for the supercomputer to adopt Longxin."

Once the development of the 100 teraflops supercomputer succeeds, it will hopefully become top three supercomputers in the world top 500 ranking.

Details about research of the 100 teraflops supercomputer will hopefully be revealed at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of China's development of high performance computer on July 12, said president of Dawning Li Jun.

Developed countries including Japan and the US have already announced starting development of 100 teraflops supercomputers, and IBM announced success in developing the supercomputer at the end of 2004. China will become the 2nd country possessing 100 teraflops supercomputer should the program succeed.

Supercomputer is an indicator of a country's comprehensive strength. The world supercomputer ranking of this year shows China has 19 supercomputers among the world top 500, accounting for 3.8 percent. China is only behind the US, Germany, the UK and Japan on the ranking, and is the country with the fastest growth in supercomputer market in Asia. However, the Shuguang 4000A system, which has a peak computation speed of ten teraflops per second, fell to the 31st from the 10th in 2004.

By People's Daily Online