Sunway TaihuLight

{{Short description|Supercomputer in Jiangsu, China}}  {{Infobox custom computer | Image = Sunway TaihuLight.jpg| Operators = [[National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi]] | Sponsors = | Location = National Supercomputer Center, [[Wuxi]], [[Jiangsu]], China | Architecture = [[SW26010|Sunway]] | Caption = | Dates = June 2016 | Memory = 1.32 [[Petabyte|PB]] (5591 [[Terabyte|TB]]/s total bandwidth) | Storage = 20 [[Petabyte|PB]] | Speed = 1.45 [[GHz]] (3.06 [[Flops|TFlops]] single CPU, 105 [[PFLOPS]] [[LINPACK]], 125 [[PFLOPS]] peak) | OS = Sunway RaiseOS 2.0.5 (based on [[Linux]]) | Power = 15 MW ([[LINPACK]]) | Space = | Cost = 1.8 billion [[Renminbi|Yuan]] (US$273 million) | ChartName = | ChartPosition = | ChartDate = | Purpose = Oil prospecting, life sciences, weather forecast, industrial design, pharmaceutical research{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} | Legacy = | Emulators = | Website = | Sources = }}

The '''Sunway TaihuLight''' ({{zh|c=神威·太湖之光}} ''Shénwēi·tàihú zhī guāng'') is a Chinese [[supercomputer]] which, {{as of|2025|11|lc=yes}}, is ranked 24th in the [[TOP500]] list,<ref>{{cite web |title=TOP500 List November 2023 |url=https://www.top500.org/lists/top500/list/2023/11/ |work=[[TOP500]] |access-date=2024-03-08 |archive-date=2023-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208135228/https://www.top500.org/lists/top500/list/2023/11/ |url-status=live }}</ref> with a [[LINPACK benchmark]] rating of 93 [[petaflops]].<ref name=top500>{{Cite web|url=http://www.top500.org/news/china-tops-supercomputer-rankings-with-new-93-petaflop-machine/|title=China Tops Supercomputer Rankings with New 93-Petaflop Machine|website=top500.org|access-date=2016-06-20|archive-date=2019-05-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531062222/https://www.top500.org/news/china-tops-supercomputer-rankings-with-new-93-petaflop-machine/|url-status=live}}</ref> The name is translated as ''divine power, the light of [[Taihu Lake]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rise of the supercomputers: Developing software, talent are key challenges for China |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/developing-software-talent-are-key-challenges |work=[[The Straits Times]] |access-date=2019-01-15 |date=2018-01-28 |archive-date=2019-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190115182107/https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/developing-software-talent-are-key-challenges |url-status=live }}</ref> This is nearly three times as fast as the previous [[Tianhe-2]], which ran at 34 petaflops. {{As of|2017|06}}, it is ranked as the 16th most energy-efficient supercomputer in the [[Green500]],<ref name=green201606>{{cite web | url = https://www.top500.org/green500/list/2017/06/ | work = Green500 | title = The Green500 List - June 2017 | access-date = 2017-11-27 | archive-date = 2017-07-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170704011451/https://www.top500.org/green500/list/2017/06/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> with an efficiency of 6.1 [[MFLOPS/W|GFlops/watt]]. It was designed by the [[National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering & Technology]] (NRCPC) and is located at the [[National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi]] in the city of [[Wuxi]], in [[Jiangsu]] province, China.<ref name=bloomberg2016/><ref name=top500/>

The Sunway TaihuLight was the world's fastest supercomputer for two years, from June 2016 to June 2018, according to the TOP500 lists. The record was surpassed in June 2018 by IBM's [[Summit (supercomputer)|Summit]].<ref name="top500/June2018">{{cite web|title=TOP500 - November 2017|url=https://www.top500.org/lists/2018/06//|publisher=TOP500|access-date=25 June 2018|archive-date=25 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625132505/https://www.top500.org/lists/2018/06//|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=bloomberg2016>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-20/world-s-fastest-supercomputer-now-has-chinese-chip-technology|title=World's Fastest Supercomputer Now Has Chinese Chip Technology|last1=Clark|first1=Jack|last2=King|first2=Ian|date=2016-06-20|website=Bloomberg.com|access-date=2016-06-20|archive-date=2016-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620081337/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-20/world-s-fastest-supercomputer-now-has-chinese-chip-technology|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36575947|title=China builds world's most powerful computer|date=2016-06-20|website=BBC News|access-date=2016-06-20|archive-date=2019-04-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404160838/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36575947|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Architecture == The Sunway TaihuLight utilizes domestically developed semiconductors, including a total of 40,960 Chinese-designed [[SW26010]] [[Manycore processor|manycore]] 64-bit [[Reduced instruction set computing|RISC processors]] based on the [[Sunway architecture]].<ref name=bloomberg2016 /><ref name=top500 /><ref name=dongarra2016>{{Cite web|url=http://www.netlib.org/utk/people/JackDongarra/PAPERS/sunway-report-2016.pdf|title=Report on the Sunway TaihuLight System|last=Dongarra|first=Jack|date=2016-06-20|website=netlib.org|access-date=2016-06-20|quote=Each CPE Cluster is composed of a Management Processing Element (MPE) which is a 64-bit RISC core which is supporting both user and system modes, a 256-bit vector instructions, 32 KB L1 instruction cache and 32 KB L1 data cache, and a 256KB L2 cache. The Computer Processing Element (CPE) is composed of an 8×8 mesh of 64-bit RISC cores, supporting only user mode, with a 256-bit vector instructions, 16 KB L1 instruction cache and 64 KB Scratch Pad Memory (SPM). [..] Each CPE has a 64 KB local (scratchpad) memory, no cache memory. The local memory is SRAM. There is a 16KB instruction cache. Each of the 4 CPE/MPE clusters has 8 GB of DDR3 memory. So a node has 32 GB of primary memory. Each processor connects to four 128-bit DDR3-2133 memory controllers, with a memory bandwidth of 136.51 GB/s.|archive-date=2018-11-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110192953/http://www.netlib.org/utk/people/JackDongarra/PAPERS/sunway-report-2016.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Each processor chip contains 256  processing cores, and an additional four auxiliary cores for system management (also RISC cores, just more fully featured) for a total of 10,649,600 CPU cores across the entire system.<ref name=dongarra2016/>

The processing cores feature 64 KB of [[scratchpad memory]] for data (and 16 KB<ref name=dongarra2016/> for instructions) and communicate via a [[network on a chip]], instead of having a traditional [[cache hierarchy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/230458-meet-the-new-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-chinas-taihulight|title=Meet the new world's fastest supercomputer: China's TaihuLight|last=Lendino|first=James|date=2016-06-20|website=Extremetech|access-date=2016-06-21|quote=The TOP500 report said that the chip also lacks any traditional L1-L2-L3 cache, and instead has 12KB[sic] of instruction cache and 64KB "local scratchpad" that works sort of like an L1 cache.|archive-date=2016-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621132844/http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/230458-meet-the-new-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-chinas-taihulight|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Software == The system runs on its own operating system, Sunway RaiseOS 2.0.5, which is based on [[Linux]].<ref name=dongarra2016/> The system has its own customized implementation of [[OpenACC 2.0]] to aid the parallelization of code.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1 = Fu| first1 = Haohuan| last2 = Liao| first2 = Junfeng| last3 = Yang| first3 = Jinzhe| last4 = Wang| first4 = Lanning| last5 = Song| first5 = Zhenya| last6 = Huang| first6 = Xiaomeng| last7 = Yang| first7 = Chao| last8 = Xue| first8 = Wei| last9 = Liu| first9 = Fangfang| last10 = Qiao| first10 = Fangli| last11 = Zhao| first11 = Wei| last12 = Yin| first12 = Xunqiang| last13 = Hou| first13 = Chaofeng| last14 = Zhang| first14 = Chenglong| last15 = Ge| first15 = Wei| last16 = Zhang| first16 = Jian| last17 = Wang| first17 = Yangang| last18 = Zhou| first18 = Chunbo| last19 = Yang| first19 = Guangwen|date=2016|title=The Sunway TaihuLight Supercomputer: System and Applications|journal=Sci. China Inf. Sci.| volume = 59| issue = 7|doi=10.1007/s11432-016-5588-7| doi-access = free}}</ref>

== Future development== China's first [[Exascale computing|exascale]] supercomputer was scheduled to enter service by 2020 according to the head of the school of computing at the [[National University of Defense Technology]] (NUDT). According to the national plan for the next generation of high performance computers, the country would have develop an exascale computer during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period (2016–2020). The government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, NUDT and the [[National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin]] are working on the project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/china_research/201606/t20160616_164450.shtml|title=China's Exascale Supercomputer Operational by 2020---Chinese Academy of Sciences|website=english.cas.cn|access-date=2018-11-28|archive-date=2016-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620182006/http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/china_research/201606/t20160616_164450.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The investment is likely to hit 3 billion yuan ($470.6 million).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/syncedreview/one-billion-billion-tianhe-3-exascale-supercomputer-prototype-passes-tests-7d30aa97aca2|title=One Billion Billion! Tianhe-3 Exascale Supercomputer Prototype Passes Tests|date=27 July 2018|website=Medium|access-date=28 November 2018|archive-date=28 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128211045/https://medium.com/syncedreview/one-billion-billion-tianhe-3-exascale-supercomputer-prototype-passes-tests-7d30aa97aca2|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also == * [[Sunway BlueLight]] * [[Manycore processor]] * [[Massively parallel processor array]] * [[Supercomputing in China]] * [[Summit (supercomputer)]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.top500.org/system/178764 Top500 list entry for the Sunway TaihuLight] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEdsrT1mFAU CCTV video news story on Sunway TaihuLight] * [http://demo.wxmax.cn/wxc/soft1.php?word=soft&i=46 Hardware of Sunway TaihuLight] * {{cite video|url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170621-meet-the-worlds-most-powerful-computer|title=Meet the world's most powerful computer|date=22 June 2017|author=Andersen, Cameron|work=BBC News}} - BBC 5-minute video

{{S-start}} {{s-ach|rec}} {{S-bef|before=[[Tianhe-2]]<br />33.9 petaflops}} {{S-ttl | title = [[TOP500|World's most powerful supercomputer]] | years = June 2016 – June 2018 }} {{S-aft|after=[[Summit (supercomputer)|Summit]]<br />200 petaflops}} {{S-end}}

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[[Category:2016 in technology]] [[Category:Petascale computers]] [[Category:Supercomputers]] [[Category:Supercomputing in China]] [[Category:64-bit computers]] [[Category:Computer-related introductions in 2016]]