舊金山——環球最快超等盤算機的最新排名榜供給了進一步的證據，註解美國和中國之間曾迥異的技巧差距正在縮小。
“環球最快超等盤算機500強”(Top500)每兩年更新一次，最新榜單於本周一宣布。中國不但持續第七次成為天下上最快盤算機的具有者，並且打入500強的數目也是至多的——這是第一次有美國之外的國度做到這一點。
並且這也是第一次，環球最快的超等盤算機應用了中國制作的微處置器芯片，而不是來自矽谷英特爾(Intel)的芯片。
在科學界，超等盤算機被視為一個國度技巧領先位置的指標，重新型兵器和藥品研發，到汽車和花費類產物的計劃，超等盤算機都施展著異常主要的感化。多年來，美國盤算專家和企業高管們都告誡說，在超等盤算機範疇的領軍位置對國度的許多好處相當主要。
“本日，乃至連民用洗滌劑的瓶子都是用超等盤算機計劃的，”芝加哥大學物理學家、教務長埃裏克·D·艾薩克斯(Eric D. Isaacs)說。“中國愈來愈擅長制作這些盤算機，如今對美國的家當和國度平安來講，這成為了一個競爭力的題目。”
美國在500強名單上落空領頭羊位置的緣故原由有許多。當局在聯邦層面的基本科學研討投入歷久存在爭辯，並且一些人否決當局贊助那些與國度平安沒有直接幹系的家當立異，以是當局對超等盤算的支撐已有所放緩。
在私營部分，像谷歌、微軟、Facebook和亞馬遜如許的公司投入了數以十億計的美元在雲盤算中間上，而辦理科學題目並非雲辦事的著重點。
客歲，美國封閉了一些先輩微處置器對中國的出口，擔憂中國應用它們成長核兵器，田納西大學(University of Tennessee)的盤算機科學家傑克·唐加拉(Jack Dongarra)說，這些處置器極有大概用來加速中國的自立技巧研發。他曾在1993年介入創立最初的環球最快盤算機榜單。
這個500強榜單是由唐加拉和勞倫斯伯克利國度試驗室(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)的物理學家埃裏希·施特羅邁爾(Erich Strohmaier)配合保護的。各盤算中間每兩年向他們報告請示一次情形和機能。
2001年時，500強名單中沒有任何超等盤算機來自中國。而如今，名單上有167座超等盤算機來自中國，165座來自美國。並且中國在一個比擬荒僻罕見的種別中也位於領先位置——總處置才能，即一個國度全部上榜的超等盤算機加總後的速率。
最快的盤算機名為“神威·太湖之光”，是本年在江蘇省無錫的國度超等盤算中間安置的。
只管獲得了這些造詣，但上榜盤算機中91%的芯片仍來自英特爾。中國的頂尖技巧，如軟件和銜接當代超等盤算機中數以千計的芯片的收集，仍然落伍於美國。
但這類情形大概很快就會產生轉變。行業構造半導體行業協會(Semiconductor Industry Association)稱，中國當局制訂了一個野心勃勃的籌劃，盤算投入1500億美元購置和開辟各種芯片的新技巧。
該協會的主席約翰·諾伊弗(John Neuffer)表現，多年疏忽此事的美國仿佛切實其實很看重這個競爭威逼。“這是咱們在超等盤算上更加投入，大張旗鼓的機遇，”他說。
客歲，奧巴馬當局啟動了一個新項目，內容是開辟所謂的“艾級”超等盤算機。這類盤算機的速率將是現今最快的超等盤算機的十倍。(一艾次指一秒鐘內履行一百億億條數學指令。)盤算機專家稱，這類盤算機可以或許對氣象變更帶來的傷害等癥結題目給出更明白的謎底。
在奧巴馬總統客歲7月簽訂國度計謀盤算籌劃(National Strategic Computing Initiative)以前，制作美國最快的超等盤算機的事情重要由美國核武貯備治理籌劃(Stockpile Stewardship and Management)推進。該籌劃1995年啟動，旨在模仿核兵器的測試和保護。
中國完美了IBM和克雷(Cray)等美國公司首創的傳統超等盤算機的臨盆，但是美國如今的著重點多是效力更高的新型超等盤算機。據加州大學聖叠戈分校加州通訊與信息技巧研討所(California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, San Diego)長處拉裏·斯馬(Larry Smarr)先容，這類超等盤算機大概會催生專門應答人工智能等挑釁的盤算機。
最快的盤算機面對的一個計劃挑釁在於它們偉大的功耗。中國那台全球運行速率最快的超等盤算機的體積相稱於一個大堆棧，用電量大抵相稱於1.5萬戶家庭。艾級超等盤算機的用電量頗有多是它的兩倍多，大概說相稱於美國最大的太陽能發電舉措措施寶穴太陽能項目(Copper Mountain Solar Facility)的發電量。
與此同時，即使美國能在十年內計劃出艾級盤算機，中國大概會率先實現這個目的。據唐加拉稱，中國當局致力於在這個十年停止前到達艾級盤算。
由於資金不敷和技巧挑釁，“美國制作艾級盤算機的籌劃湧現耽擱，是以，咱們進一步落伍於本應當到達的程度，”他說。
唐加拉稱，無錫的超等盤算機神威是中國制作氣力的意味。該盤算機的基本散布在40960個微處置器上的1060萬個處置器“核”。這些芯片零丁運行時速率相對於較慢，約莫相稱於蘋果iPhone 6的處置器速率。
神威也有本身的缺陷。它的存儲芯片技巧較老，這象征著和最壯大的美國超等盤算機比擬，它的遍地理器數據交流速率有限。同時，中國的新型超等盤算機仍樹立在美國開辟的光收集技巧上。該技巧被用於銜接不計其數的微處置器芯片。
只管中國上榜的超等盤算機至多，但排名前二十的超等盤算機仍以美國的為主，占了10台。歐洲如今有105台超盤算機。名單上日本的超等盤算機從11月的37台降至如今的29台。
幾名美國科學家將今朝的情形比作上世紀80年月。當時，他們擔憂在超等盤算機範疇，美國正在輸給日本。
“科學家大概會說，‘我不能不去中鼎祚行我的盤算，”斯馬說。
【參考譯文】
SAN FRANCISCO — A new list of the world’s fastest supercomputers provides more evidence that the once-yawning technology gap between the United States and China is closing.
China dominates a biannual ranking of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, called the Top500, that was published on Monday. Not only does China have the world’s fastest machine for the seventh consecutive time, it has the largest number of computers among the top 500 — a first for any country other than the United States.
Also for the first time, the world’s fastest supercomputer uses Chinese-made microprocessor chips instead of chips from Silicon Valley’s Intel.
Supercomputers are viewed in scientific circles as an indicator of national technology leadership, and they are vital for research in areas ranging from the development of new weapons and medicines, to the design of cars and consumer products. American computing experts and business executives have warned for years that leadership in supercomputing is vital to a range of national interests.
“Today even consumer detergent bottles are designed with supercomputers,” said Eric D. Isaacs, a physicist and provost of the University of Chicago. “The Chinese are getting good at building these computers, and it’s a competitive issue now for U.S. industry and national security.”
The United States primacy on the Top500 list has slipped for a number of reasons. Government support for supercomputing has been slowed by long-running debates on the level of federal spending on basic scientific research, as well as opposition to funding for industrial innovation that is not directly related to national security.
In the private sector, companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon invested billions of dollars in cloud-computing centers that don’t focus as much on solving scientific problems.
And last year, the United States blocked the sale of a number of advanced microprocessors to China over concerns they were being used in nuclear weapon development, which most likely accelerated the development of China’s own technology, said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who helped create the list of the world’s fastest computers in 1993.
The Top500 list is maintained by Dr. Dongarra and Erich Strohmaier, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Individual computing centers report descriptions and performance to them twice a year.
In 2001, there were no Chinese supercomputers on the Top500. Now, China has 167 systems on the list compared to 165 from the United States. China also leads a more obscure category — total processing power, or the combined computing speeds of all of its supercomputers on the list.
The fastest machine, the Sunway TaihuLight System, was installed this year at the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi, in China’s Jiangsu province.
Despite those achievements, Intel still provided the chips for 91 percent of the machines on the list. And China is still catching up with the United States in state-of-the-art technologies, like software and the networking that links the thousands of chips in a modern supercomputer.
But that could soon change. Officials at the Semiconductor Industry Association, a trade group, said the Chinese government has an ambitious $150 billion program to acquire as well as develop new technologies in various kinds of chips.
After years of neglect, the United States does appear to be taking the competitive threat seriously, said John Neuffer, president of the S.I.A. “It’s an opportunity for us to double down on supercomputing and get ourselves back on track,” he said.
Last year, the Obama administration began a new effort to develop a so-called “exascale” supercomputer that would be 10 times faster than today’s fastest supercomputers. (An exaflop is a quintillion — one million trillion — mathematical instructions a second.) Computer scientists have argued that such machines will allow more definitive answers on crucial questions such as the danger posed by climate change.
Until President Obama signed the National Strategic Computing Initiative last July, the construction of the fastest American supercomputers had largely been driven by the nation’s Stockpile Stewardship and Management program, which was created in 1995 to simulate the testing and maintenance of nuclear weapons.
While the Chinese have perfected the manufacture of traditional supercomputers pioneered by American companies like IBM and Cray, the United States may focus on new, more efficient supercomputers that might lead to machines intended for challenges like artificial intelligence, according to Larry Smarr, a physicist who directs the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology at the University of California, San Diego.
One of the design challenges of the fastest computers is their vast power consumption. The world’s fastest supercomputer in China, which could fill a large warehouse, requires the same electric power needed to run roughly 15,000 homes. An exascale supercomputer will very likely require more than twice that amount of power, or roughly the amount of power produced by the Copper Mountain Solar Facility, the largest producer of solar power in the United States.
At the same time, even if the United States is able to design an exascale computer within the next decade, the Chinese could get there first. According to Dr. Dongarra, the Chinese government is committed to reaching the exascale goal by the end of this decade.
Because of funding shortages and technology challenges, “there has been a delay in getting the exascale launched in the U.S., and as a result, we’re further behind than we should be,” he said.
The Sunway supercomputer in Wuxi is a marvel of Chinese manufacturing prowess, Dr. Dongorra noted. The computer is based on 10.6 million processor “cores” spread across 40,960 microprocessors that work together. The chips are relatively slow individually — about the speed of the processor in Apple’s iPhone 6.
The Sunway machine does have its shortcomings. It has older memory-chip technology, meaning it is limited in the speed with which it can move data in and out of each processor when compared with the most powerful American supercomputers. And the new Chinese supercomputer is still based on American-made optical network technology that is used to connect the thousands of microprocessor chips.
Despite the fact that the Chinese now have the most supercomputers on the list, the United States still dominates the top 20, with 10 machines. There are now 105 supercomputers in Europe. Japan has 29 systems on the list, down from 37 systems in November.
Several American scientists compared what is going on now to the 1980s, when they worried that the nation was losing ground to Japanese supercomputers.
“Scientists might be saying, ‘I have to go to China to run my computations,’” said Dr. Smarr.
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