AI current affairs pictorial ｜ supercomputing

If artificial intelligence is likened to a pot of sweet and palatable rice, then the computing power is firewood, the data is rice, and the algorithm is the chef of steamed rice. Under the technology-driven background of the continuous development of artificial intelligence, the demand for top computing power is growing continuously.

Compared with ordinary computers we use every day, supercomputers refer to computers that can perform a large amount of data and high-speed operations that ordinary personal computers can’t handle. They have strong data storage capacity and fast data processing speed, and are mostly used in cutting-edge technology research and national high-tech fields, which is an important symbol of national scientific and technological development level and comprehensive national strength.

Since 2009, China has built six national supercomputing centers in Tianjin, Shenzhen, Jinan, Changsha, Guangzhou and Wuxi. Relying on the national supercomputing center, supercomputers with "China Core" constantly refresh China’s "speed".

From June 2013 to November 2015, China’s "Tianhe II" supercomputer ranked first among the top 500 supercomputers in the world for six consecutive times. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader made an important instruction: "The successful development of Tianhe-2 supercomputer system indicates that China has been at the forefront of the world in the field of supercomputers."

On June 20th, 2016, the "Shenwei Taihu Light" supercomputer developed in China won the first place in the global supercomputer list with nearly three times the computing speed of the second place, and its computing power in one minute is equivalent to that of 7.2 billion people in the world. At the same time, it has been continuously calculated with a calculator for 32 years.

On November 17th, the same year, the whole machine application "Full Implicit Simulation of Global Atmospheric Dynamics Approved by Ten Million Nuclear Powers" based on "Shenwei Light of Taihu Lake" won the "Gordon Bell Award", realizing the "zero" breakthrough of China Supercomputer in this field.

On May 28, 2018, at the 19th Academician Conference of China Academy of Sciences and the 14th Academician Conference of China Academy of Engineering, the General Secretary specifically mentioned the development achievement of "Shenwei Taihu Light": "Supercomputers won the world’s crown for 10 consecutive times, using domestic chips ‘ Shenwei Light of Taihu Lake ’ Won the highest award for high performance computing applications ‘ Gordon Bell Prize ’ 。”

General Secretary of the Supreme Leader, when expounding the great changes in the new era and ten years in the Party’s Report to the 20th CPC National Congress, pointed out that basic research and original innovation have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs have been made in some key core technologies, strategic emerging industries have grown stronger, supercomputers have made great achievements, and China has entered the ranks of innovative countries.

With the vigorous development of innovative computing power and a new generation of artificial intelligence technology, supercomputers have become a veritable big country.

Looking up at the starry sky, supercomputers can simulate the evolution of different cosmological models and help human beings get a glimpse of the mystery of dark matter. The "numerical wind tunnel" project can shorten the aerodynamic shape design cycle of aerospace vehicles such as large aircraft and rockets from one or two years to several days.

Based on the earth, supercomputers are widely used in oil and gas resources exploration, geological survey, large-scale engineering construction and so on. In the construction of Baihetan Hydropower Station, the research on seismic safety of arch dam abutment was carried out by using supercomputer, which provided a scientific basis for dam design.

Benefiting people’s livelihood, supercomputers have played a vital role in the fields of medicine, biomedicine and gene sequencing. "Tianhe Medical Health Big Data Industrialization Platform" provides services such as data storage, development and application for medical institutions, data development and algorithm application companies and multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Nowadays, the integration of supercomputing and artificial intelligence has become the core driving force for the transformation and upgrading of various industries and the development of digital economy in China. The White Paper on the Development of Intelligent Computing Industry released in 2023 shows that by 2025, the scale of China’s computing core industry will exceed 4.4 trillion yuan, and the scale of related industries will reach 24 trillion yuan.

As a productivity tool in the era of digital economy, supercomputing has become an important support for the high-quality development of economy and society, which shows the surging innovation vitality of China today.