The Shenzhen National Supercomputing Center has announced the development of Lingshen, a supercomputer designed to exceed 2 sustained exaflops. Unlike machines such as El Capitán, which rely on graphics accelerators, this system will exclusively use Chinese-made CPUs. The initiative aims to demonstrate the Asian country's technological capability in high-performance computing without resorting to foreign components.
CPUs vs. GPUs: Lingshen's technical bet 🖥️
Lingshen will forgo GPUs, a common component in current exascale systems for parallel tasks. Instead, it will use general-purpose processors designed by Chinese manufacturers, optimized for scientific workloads. This architecture poses challenges in energy efficiency and cooling, as CPUs typically consume more per operation than specialized GPUs. The development team is confident that core density and advanced interconnect will compensate for the lack of graphics accelerators, achieving sustained performance that could double that of Frontier or El Capitán.
No GPU, but plenty of faith in fans 🔥
Building an exascale system with only CPUs is like trying to win a Formula 1 race with a diesel truck: technically possible, but you'll sweat plenty to avoid melting the engine. Chinese engineers will have to get creative to prevent Lingshen from becoming the most expensive heater on the planet. That said, if they manage to make it work, they can claim they did what no one else dared: run without spare wheels.