China Defies US Ban and Builds World’s Fastest Computers

China has now done so the fastest in the world advanced computersconquering the United States. The system, known as LineShine and installed at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, displaced the US El Capitan system from the top spot in the TOP500 ranking of computer power.

Success comes in between very competitive between Beijing and Washington because of technology, known by High tariffs and restrictions for different types of hardware and software.

Since 1993, the TOP500 ranking has been recognized worldwide super powerful computers Every six months through standardized tests that evaluate the machine’s performance, taking into account its mental speed and global performance, as well as its power.

In the past, ranking has been driven by US-made systems. However, LineShine has returned China to the top after almost ten years from the first place.

El Capitan, located in Livermore, California, has held the top spot since 2024. Now, the benchmark results have confirmed that LineShine exceeds the power of the US system processing by more than 20 percent.

Using about 42.2 megawatts of power, the Chinese supercomputer delivers 2,198 exaflops, meaning it can handle more than 2 quintillion operations per second.

One of the most impressive features of LineShine is that, unlike most next-generation computers, it does not use graphics processing units (GPUs). Instead, it relies on central processing units (CPUs), which are widely used in mobile phones, desktop computers, and laptops but rarely found in large scientific machines.

Another notable feature is that all of its devices are built with hardware and software made in China. LineShine’s architecture is based on the LingKun platform and consists of approximately 45,000 LX2 processors. Each processor has 304 cores and operates at a clock speed of 1.55 GHz.

Nodes are connected via a high-speed network called LingQi, designed to reduce latency and speed up data exchange. The entire system runs on Kylin OS, a Linux operating system widely used in Chinese science and government.

Clear Message From China to the US

China’s return to the top of the TOP500 is interpreted as an achievement that goes beyond just having the world’s most advanced computers, as the country wants to show the world that its tech industry can thrive despite not having access to key US technologies.

During the first administration of Donald Trump and throughout the presidency of Joe Biden, the United States imposed strict export regulations on products, software, and platforms related to supercomputers in an attempt to limit China’s technological progress. In response, Beijing followed suit.

These restrictions have increased in the current Trump administration, mainly through tariffs and limits on imports of GPUs, chips, and other products related to artificial intelligence (AI), the technology that now powers a large portion of the world’s most powerful computers.

These restrictions forced China to invest in new infrastructure and technologies capable of creating supercomputers that can compete with the most advanced systems in the US despite the lack of access to other technologies.

This article appeared first WIRED in Spanish and translated from Spanish.