Paving the way for China exascale computing

Supercomputing technology has been evolving rapidly in an accelerated way. It has made a significant impact on scientific research, technology innovation, economic and social development, and the life of ordinary people. Over the past three decades, China has devoted considerable efforts on the development of supercomputing technologies, and made tremendous and remarkable achievements in this field. China’s supercomputing systems now rank among the world’s most powerful supercomputers. As Moore’s Law approaches its limit, the development of exascale supercomputing systems is facing a series of grand challenges in both technologies and applications. Based on the experiences of China’s supercomputing development over the past years, this paper analyzes the major technical challenges on the path towards exascale computing. Additionally, ongoing major R&D activities on next-generation supercomputing in China are introduced, and the possible solutions to achieve exascale computing, including co-design and convergence computing, are discussed.