National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi

China operates a number of supercomputer centers which have held world records in speed.

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. Today, China is home to the world's fastest supercomputer, Sunway TaihuLight.

The progress of supercomputing in China has been rapid; the country's most powerful supercomputer placed 51st in June 2003, 10th by June 2004, and by November 2010 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-1 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.

The Supercomputing Center of the China Academy of Sciences (SCCAS) provides academic support functions to the National Centers.

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Wikipedia