Supercomputing in China

China operates a number of supercomputer centers which, altogether, hold 29.3% performance share of world's fastest 500 supercomputers. The origins of these centers go back to 1989, when the State Planning Commission, the State Science and Technology Commission and the World Bank jointly launched a project to develop networking and supercomputer facilities in China. In addition to network facilities, the project included three supercomputer centers. China's Sunway TaihuLight ranks third in the TOP500 list.
In the November 2019 list, China dominated the globe's highest performance machines list with 228 out of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world, exceeding the second placing (United States) which had 117.
History.
The progress of supercomputing in China has been rapid; the country's most powerful supercomputer placed 43rd in November 2002 (DeepComp 1800), 11th by November 2003 (DeepComp 6800), 10th by June 2004 (Dawning 4000A), and by November 2010 (Tianhe-1A) held top spot. China would go on to fall behind Japan in June 2011 until June 2013 when the country's most powerful supercomputer once again clocked in as the world record.
Prior to the Sunway TaihuLight, Chinese supercomputers have used "off the shelf" processors, e.g. Tianhe-I uses thousands of Intel and Nvidia chips, and uses the Linux operating system which is open-source software. However, to avoid possible future technology embargo restrictions, the Chinese are developing their own processors such as the Loongson, a MIPS type processor.
According to the MIT Technology Review, the Loongson processor would power the Dawning supercomputers by 2012, producing a line of totally Chinese-made supercomputers that reach petaflop speeds.
In April 2021, seven Chinese supercomputing entities were added to the Entity List of the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.
Supercomputing centers.
SCCAS.
The Supercomputing Center of the China Academy of Sciences (SCCAS) provides academic support functions to the National Centers. SCCAS, which is located in Beijing, is the Northern main node and operation center for China National Grid (CNGrid).
Guangzhou.
The "National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou" operates the fourth most powerful supercomputer in the world (as of June 2018) "Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2)", which runs at 33,000 teraflops. It also operates the "Tianhe-1A Guangzhou Solution – NUDT YH MPP" supercomputer that runs at 211 teraflops.
Changsha.
Foundations for a new major branch of the National Supercomputing Center (国家超级计算中心 Guójiā Chāojíjìsuàn Zhōngxīn) were laid in Changsha on 28 November 2010. It operates the "Tianhe-1A Hunan Solution – NUDT YH MPP" supercomputer which runs at 1342 teraflops.
Jinan.
The "National Supercomputing Center in Jinan" operates the "Sunway BlueLight MPP" supercomputer that runs at 795 teraflops.
Shanghai.
The "Shanghai Supercomputer Center" operates the "Magic Cube-II" supercomputer that runs at 400 teraflops.
Shenzhen.
The "National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen" houses the second fastest machine in China, and the third fastest in the world. In May 2010 the Nebulae computer in Shenzhen placed second on the Top 500 supercomputer list, after the Cray computer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
Tianjin.
The "National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin" is one of the main centers. It houses the Tianhe-I supercomputer which in October 2010 became the top speed record holder in the world by consistently operating at 2.507 petaflops. The Tianjin Computer Institute had been active as far back as 1984 when it developed the 16-bit TQ-0671 microcomputer system. A commercial affiliate of the Tianjin center had previously made the PHPC100 personal supercomputer in 2008 which was about twice the size of a normal desktop computer, but had 40 times the speed. In 2010 a second generation model was released.
Wuxi.
The "National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi" houses the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer, the 4th most powerful supercomputer in the world as of November 2020.