Skip to Content
Computing

China tops the US as the number one supercomputer manufacturer

June 25, 2018

China no longer houses the world’s top computer, but it does pump out more supercomputers than the US.

China wins on quantity: Top500 has released its semi-annual list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers on the planet. Chinese firms made the machines in 206 of those, and for the first time, the leading supercomputer manufacturer is not a US company. China’s Lenovo takes home that prize; it made nearly 24 percent of the machines on the list.

US back in the top spot: An American computer topped the list for the first time since 2012 with the announcement of Summit two weeks ago (see “The world’s most powerful supercomputer is tailor made for the AI era”). That's a big shift from last year, when America struggled to beat the Chinese-based Sunway TaihuLight.

Why it matters: Although the US can boast the number one spot, the decline of American machines in the ranking is striking. Just six months ago the country had 145 supercomputers on the list; it’s now down to a new low of 124.

Deep Dive

Computing

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

IBM wants to build a 100,000-qubit quantum computer

The company wants to make large-scale quantum computers a reality within just 10 years.

The inside story of New York City’s 34-year-old social network, ECHO

Stacy Horn set out to create something new and very New York. She didn’t expect it to last so long.

Delivering a quantum future

Innovations require engineering breakthroughs and focus on real computational problems.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.