China aims to qualify for 300 exaflops of computing power by 2025
China is determined to enhance its AI and HPC capabilities, according to a report by CNBC. The country's key ministries announced on Monday that China aims to achieve a 50% improvement in its computational capabilities by 2025, reaching a total of 300 ExaFLOPS. This strategic initiative is part of China's plan to maintain competitiveness in the high-tech sector, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC).
Approximately a year ago, China's government, through six of its primary ministries, unveiled its ambitious plan to significantly elevate the country's computing prowess. Currently, China possesses a combined computational power of 197 ExaFLOPS. However, the goal is to increase this aggregated performance to around 300 ExaFLOPS by 2025, a remarkable achievement if successfully accomplished.
This initiative will provide a boost for China's tech giants, including Alibaba and Tencent. The government's plan emphasizes enhancements in memory storage, improved data transmission infrastructure, and the establishment of additional data centers. These developments are critical for the advancement of cloud computing services, an area where numerous AI solutions are currently being marketed. Nevertheless, it remains uncertain what kind of hardware will be utilized to build over 100 ExaFLOPS of additional computational capacity within such a short timeframe.
The surge in computational strength that China seeks to attain goes beyond mere bragging rights. The Chinese government recognizes the pivotal role of advanced computing in various sectors, particularly in finance and education. The underlying notion is that a robust computational backbone can tremendously assist in the development and deployment of AI technologies.
Historical data suggests that China's investments in computational infrastructure yield substantial economic returns. Akshara Bassi, senior research analyst at Counterpoint, notes that for every yuan spent on enhancing computing capabilities, the nation has seen a three to four yuan economic boost. This pattern underscores the tremendous importance of technology in driving economic growth.
Bassi explained, "China has found that traditionally, every 1 yuan invested in computing power has driven 3-4 yuan of economic output. The investments echo China's plans to drive economic output through leadership in technology prowess and integrating AI with existing technologies and solutions across all industries and domains. China aims to invest in growing its computing power, especially in the AI field, as it witnesses its major cloud providers launching AI solutions en masse for consumers and enterprises."
However, building over 100 ExaFLOPS of compute power within a single year will not be an easy task for China and its companies. The United States has imposed sanctions that have strained China's tech supply chain, particularly in terms of accessing AI and HPC CPUs and GPUs from companies like AMD, Intel, and Nvidia. Although China's number one foundry, SMIC, is capable of manufacturing fairly sophisticated application processors for smartphones, it lacks the ability to produce something as advanced as Nvidia's H100 or Intel's Ponte Vecchio. Consequently, experts anticipate that U.S. sanctions, especially those impacting access to top-tier AI and HPC chips, will continue to present significant obstacles for China in the future.
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