China's LineShine supercomputer has been ranked the world's fastest in the Top500 list, marking the first time since 2017 that a Chinese machine has topped the benchmark of global computing power. The LineShine, located at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, achieved 2.198 exaflops, meaning it can perform more than 2 quintillion calculations per second, according to the Top500 project scientists.
LineShine's Unique Architecture and Power Consumption
Unlike many high-performance computers that rely on graphics processors (GPUs) for AI tasks, LineShine runs entirely on conventional central processing units (CPUs). It requires approximately 42.2 megawatts of electricity to operate, as reported by the list.
Top Five Supercomputers and Global Rankings
The previous top-ranked computer, El Capitan at the US government's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, now holds second place. It is followed by two other US supercomputers at national laboratories in Tennessee and Illinois. Germany's Jupiter supercomputer dropped to fifth place. These five are the only publicly verified exascale computers in the world. Other countries with machines in the top 10 include Italy, Switzerland, and Japan.
UK and Australian Performances
The United Kingdom has 11 machines in the Top500 list. The University of Bristol's Isambard-AI, equipped with 5,400 Nvidia superchips and housed in a black metal cage topped with razor wire, is the highest-ranked UK machine at 11th place, down two positions since the last ranking. Western Australia's Setonix, ranked 86th, is the best-performing of the four Australian machines listed.
EU's Ambitious Supercomputing Plans
Last year, the European Union unveiled a €20 billion (£17 billion) plan to build sites with vast supercomputers, termed AI gigafactories, to develop next-generation AI models. These facilities aim for moonshot innovations in healthcare, biotech, industry, robotics, and scientific discovery. The best-performing AI factories currently have up to 25,000 advanced AI processors, but a gigafactory would exceed 100,000 AI processors, according to an EU strategy document. An EU official stated that these power-hungry facilities, which require huge amounts of water for cooling, should run as much as possible on green energy, with plans for water recycling. Campaigners have expressed concerns that such datacentres could undermine Europe's climate ambitions.
