China plans to develop a prototype supercomputer in 2017. The machine will be an exascale computer and will be able to execute quintrillion calculations per second. China already holds the distinction of having the world's fastest supercomputers.

The exascale computer is expected to have useful application in the field of big data. It is likely to play a huge role in sectors such as healthcare. Zhang Ting, application engineer at the National Supercomputer Center in the port city of Tianjin said that such computer will further aid cloud computing as it will help in bringing about data transmission efficiency.

Like Us on Facebook

China is looking to develop the prototype this year.  However, it expects the full system to take some more time for completion. Ting further added, "A complete computing system of the exascale supercomputer and its applications can only be expected in 2020."

Ting also said that the new computer will 200 times more powerful than Tianhe-1, China's first petaflop computer. Tianhe-1 was crowned as the fastest computer in the world in 2010.

The United States is also reported to be working on an exascale project. The Department of Energy is working on boosting its petascale computers under the Exascale Computing Project. it has disbursed $39.8 billion worth of grants for developing exascale computer by 2023.

On successful completion of the project, China will be able to boost its position as supercomputer leader. In 2016, China dethroned the US as the country with the highest number of supercomputers. China has 167 supercomputers while the US came second with 165 units. 

TagsExascale Computing Project, Supercomputer, Tianhe-1