China Reclaims Fastest Supercomputer At 2 Exaflops (reuters.com)
(Tuesday June 23, 2026 @07:00PM (BeauHD)
from the taking-the-crown dept.)
- Reference: 0184060162
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/06/23/2015238/china-reclaims-fastest-supercomputer-at-2-exaflops
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-beats-us-with-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-race-not-geared-ai-work-2026-06-23/
Longtime Slashdot reader [1]hackingbear shares a report from TOP500:
> The 67th edition of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers was [2]announced today at the ISC 2026 conference in Hamburg, Germany. LineShine, a previously unlisted system installed in China, debuts at No. 1, [3]displacing El Capitan as the world's most powerful supercomputer as measured by the High Performance Linpack (HPL) benchmark. LineShine achieved 2.198 Exaflop/s on HPL -- about 80 percent of its 2.736 Exaflop/s theoretical peak -- making it the first system on the TOP500 to exceed two exaflops of sustained double-precision performance using CPUs only.
>
> Installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen (NSCS) and built by the Shenzhen Cloud Computing Center, the system is based on a custom Chinese processor and the "LingKun" platform: 13.79 million cores across 304-core LX2 processors running at 1.55 GHz, linked by the proprietary LingQi interconnect and running Kylin OS. LineShine draws approximately 42.2 megawatts of power, for an efficiency of 52.07 Gigaflops/Watt. Its debut marks the first time since 2017 that a Chinese system has led the TOP500, and it also takes over the No. 1 position on the HPCG ranking with 22.00 HPCG-Petaflop/s. On the HPL-MxP mixed-precision benchmark, LineShine reached 7.92 Exaflop/s for fourth place, a comparatively modest 3.6x speedup over its HPL score that points to a CPU-only design without dedicated low-precision accelerators.
While impressive, "the results may say more about Beijing's desire to show self-sufficiency in computing systems than its standing in the global AI race," reports Reuters.
Reuters interviewed tech and policy experts who said that the results "do not mean that China has the world's fastest computer for AI work because of changes in the computing industry in recent years and the methods used to compile the list." The reports notes that LineShine "ranked fourth on a benchmark test designed to simulate computing work that is more similar to AI."
Jimmy Goodrich, a senior fellow at the University of California's Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, said: "If the hyperscalers submitted their systems, this 'world's fastest' would not crack the top five." Addison Snell, CEO of Intersect360 Research, a firm that focuses on supercomputers, added: "I'm not surprised it's the number one system. What I'm surprised by is that they submitted it and want recognition for it."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~hackingbear
[2] https://top500.org/news/lineshine-debuts-no-1-top500-enters-new-global-exascale-era/
[3] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-beats-us-with-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-race-not-geared-ai-work-2026-06-23/
> The 67th edition of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers was [2]announced today at the ISC 2026 conference in Hamburg, Germany. LineShine, a previously unlisted system installed in China, debuts at No. 1, [3]displacing El Capitan as the world's most powerful supercomputer as measured by the High Performance Linpack (HPL) benchmark. LineShine achieved 2.198 Exaflop/s on HPL -- about 80 percent of its 2.736 Exaflop/s theoretical peak -- making it the first system on the TOP500 to exceed two exaflops of sustained double-precision performance using CPUs only.
>
> Installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Shenzhen (NSCS) and built by the Shenzhen Cloud Computing Center, the system is based on a custom Chinese processor and the "LingKun" platform: 13.79 million cores across 304-core LX2 processors running at 1.55 GHz, linked by the proprietary LingQi interconnect and running Kylin OS. LineShine draws approximately 42.2 megawatts of power, for an efficiency of 52.07 Gigaflops/Watt. Its debut marks the first time since 2017 that a Chinese system has led the TOP500, and it also takes over the No. 1 position on the HPCG ranking with 22.00 HPCG-Petaflop/s. On the HPL-MxP mixed-precision benchmark, LineShine reached 7.92 Exaflop/s for fourth place, a comparatively modest 3.6x speedup over its HPL score that points to a CPU-only design without dedicated low-precision accelerators.
While impressive, "the results may say more about Beijing's desire to show self-sufficiency in computing systems than its standing in the global AI race," reports Reuters.
Reuters interviewed tech and policy experts who said that the results "do not mean that China has the world's fastest computer for AI work because of changes in the computing industry in recent years and the methods used to compile the list." The reports notes that LineShine "ranked fourth on a benchmark test designed to simulate computing work that is more similar to AI."
Jimmy Goodrich, a senior fellow at the University of California's Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation, said: "If the hyperscalers submitted their systems, this 'world's fastest' would not crack the top five." Addison Snell, CEO of Intersect360 Research, a firm that focuses on supercomputers, added: "I'm not surprised it's the number one system. What I'm surprised by is that they submitted it and want recognition for it."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~hackingbear
[2] https://top500.org/news/lineshine-debuts-no-1-top500-enters-new-global-exascale-era/
[3] https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-beats-us-with-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-race-not-geared-ai-work-2026-06-23/
Re: Yawn (Score:2)
by djp2204 ( 713741 )
Itâ(TM)s a bigger deal that itâ(TM)s a Chinese made chip
Re: (Score:1)
by olsmeister ( 1488789 )
It's a helluva lot of Chinese made chips.
Re: (Score:2)
by arglebargle_xiv ( 2212710 )
Yup. If it hadn't been for Trump's idiotic sanctions it'd be a Chinese computer made with US chips and money going to US companies. The PRC should give him some sort of science innovation award for the huge boost he's given their domestic chip industry.
Chinese Tech (Score:3)
by sit1963nz ( 934837 )
Seems like China as not as dependant on US technology as the US thought
Re: (Score:1)
by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )
> Seems like China is not as dependent on US technology as the US [hoped].
FTFY
Re: (Score:2)
by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 )
Pray harder!
Re: (Score:2)
by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )
Congrats on 15 year old propaganda. Today they can build better quality cars faster and cheaper. And before you open your yap about safety, these vehicles pass EU safety standards which are more stringent than what the USA requires.
Good to see that ... (Score:2)
by evanh ( 627108 )
not everyone has been suckered by the AI hype.
US water cooled super computer (Score:2, Funny)
The obvious choice is to build a super computer under the reflecting pool. Using the amazing pumps and clean water to provide algae-free computing and beating both China and Russia. USA USA USA
Thank you for your attention in this matter.