Chinese supercomputer powered by homegrown chips tops global ranking, surpassing US models

China's LineShine supercomputer has claimed the top spot in the global TOP500 ranking, marking the first time since 2017 that a Chinese system has held the world's fastest title. Announced on Tuesday at ISC 2026 in Hamburg, Germany, this new supercomputer, located at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, surpassed the previous leader, the US-based El Capitan.

A notable aspect of the LineShine system is its reliance entirely on domestically developed conventional computer chips (CPUs), a departure from many high-end supercomputers that utilize graphics processing units (GPUs). Achieving a performance of 2.198 exaflops, meaning over 2 quintillion calculations per second, the LineShine's success highlights China's advancements in computing infrastructure amidst ongoing technological competition.