China begins preliminary research on 1,000 teraflops supercomputer

China has begun preliminary research for the "1,000 teraflops computer" project for the "11th five-year plan" period. Lenovo Group will head the project.

The supercomputer system that calculates 1,000 teraflops per seconds will be needed to meet demands of national economy's development and social progress during the 11th five-year plan. China cannot depend on other countries in developing the supercomputer.

It is reported the US plans to develop the 1,000 teraflops supercomputer in 2010. "Both China and the US will face common technological difficulties although they have different starting point," said an executive of Lenovo.

During the preliminary research, in-depth analysis of the huge discrepancy between China's current technological foundation and the technical demands of the supercomputer will be made. In next year the key technologies of supercomputer will be studied fully.

Supercomputer first appeared in 1970. In June 2004, China's independently developed 10 teraflops "Shuguang 4000A" became one of the top 10 supercomputers in the world, which signifies that China-made supercomputer made important breakthroughs in multiple core technologies.

At the end of 2004, IBM announced success in developing the 100 teraflops supercomputer. On July 13, China's National Research Center for Intelligent Computing systems (NCIC) and the Dawning Company announced beginning research on a supercomputer with a peak calculation speed exceeding 100 teraflops per second. According to Li Jun, president of the Dawning company, China's 100 teraflops "Shuguang 5000" supercomputer will be put into use in 2008. Japan, in the mean time, is hastening the development of 100 teraflops supercomputer too.

By People's Daily Online