Thematic Intelligence: Deep Dive into China’s Isolation in High-Performance Computing

Thematic Intelligence: Deep Dive into China’s Isolation in High-Performance Computing

Summary

In 2016, China overtook the US to claim the most entries on the Top500, a list that ranks the 500 most powerful supercomputers globally, for the first time. However, since 2019, China’s presence in the Top500 has decreased following trade restrictions imposed by the US. Today, China’s most powerful high-performance computing (HPC) systems are highly secretive yet comparatively (and unofficially) powerful despite architectural inefficiencies and trade sanctions.

Key Highlights

• Ongoing separation from the West in favor of domestic alternatives is part of China’s broader plan of technological self-sufficiency and a consequence of wanting isolation. Responses to geopolitical tension in HPC, such as technology bans and inter-regional investment, have granted some companies and countries competitive advantages, producing a more geographically varied HPC industry.
• The ongoing trade war between the US and China creates opportunities for protectionism and increased geographic diversification of supply chains as other countries develop their domestic HPC capabilities. Following such challenges, China can respond with powerful sanctions, critical mineral supply limitations, and the restriction of investment in HPC.

Scope

• HPC is a key part of the global tech rivalry. It has always allowed nation-states to demonstrate their technical capabilities, with implications for their security.
• Competition between the US and China for technological supremacy will intensify in the next decade. This report looks at the implications of this competition on China's HPC industry and the broader tech landscape.

Reasons to Buy

• Businesses, governments, and individuals generate huge volumes of data every day, and organizations use HPC to store, process, and analyze large, complex workloads to extract value from this data. Therefore, understanding this technology is more important than ever. US-China competition is the most important geopolitical factor in the global economy and drives global supply chain decoupling.
• Geopolitical fractures cause regulatory fragmentation, making streamlining business operations across multiple locations a long and costly process. As HPC’s strategic importance grows with its accessibility and use cases, it will increasingly become a key geopolitical battleground for the West and China.