China plans to develop a prototype exascale computer by the end of the year, state media said Jan 17, as it seeks to win a global race to be the first to build a machine capable of a billion, billion calculations per second. The Asian giant built the world's fastest supercomputer, the Sunway TaihuLight machine, in June last year, which was twice as fast as the previous number one. Exascale computers are even more powerful, and can execute at least one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second. The exascale computer could have applications in big data and cloud computing work, he added, noting that its prototype would lead the world in data transmission efficiency as well as calculation speed. Of the top 10 fastest computers, two are in China and five in the US as of November, the ranking said.

Source: The Star January 19, 2017 00:02 UTC