More and more supercomputer centers are emerging in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, laying the foundation for China to accelerate its digital economy.
Digital technology continues to play a pivotal role in China’s economy. With the vast amounts of data generated each day, the East Asian nation aims to enhance its computing power by establishing supercomputer centers in the western region. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is emerging as an ideal choice.
“Chengdu Supercomputer Center (CSC) is a major infrastructure. With its computing power and expert team, we can support computing for innovative technology sectors, such as research and development and new energy design. Additionally, building this center will fill the gap in the national supercomputer system layout in the western region,” said Li Jiajia, Executive Director and Maintenance of the center.
Chengdu Supercomputer Center. (Photo: CSC)
CSC was inaugurated in September 2020 and became China’s tenth national supercomputer center. This facility utilizes “in-house” processing technology, focusing on the accuracy of calculations. Authorities have stated that more similar centers will be built in Chengdu in the near future.
“Computing power can be regarded as a public resource. It can be used to analyze all types of data and provide us with the necessary results for large-scale model analysis,” said Wang Zhiguo, manager of the Chengdu AI Computing Center, in an interview with CCTV+.
Experts believe that Chengdu is an ideal choice for data that is less time-sensitive.
“For data that is less time-sensitive and does not heavily depend on the Internet, but requires high computing capability, such as video rendering, long-term data analysis, and log analysis, Chengdu is an excellent choice due to its advantages in energy and data. Chengdu can deploy a massive amount of computing power at a very low cost,” explained Associate Professor Zeng Liaoyuan from the University of Science and Technology of China.
Over 60% of Sichuan’s electricity comes from hydropower, providing a cheap and sustainable energy supply. Additionally, there are vast open lands in Chengdu, making it a perfect location for building data centers.
