The Downing Information Industry Co., Ltd., a major Chinese manufacturer of high-performance computers, is to build the world's most powerful computer, capable of performing 10 trillion calculations per second. 

The Downing Information Industry Co., Ltd., a major Chinese manufacturer of high-performance computers, is to build the world's most powerful computer, capable of performing 10 trillion calculations per second.

Scheduled to be completed by March next year, the super computer marks China's first step in the development of a cluster computer system, which has the highest calculation speed in the world, according to a source with the company.

Previously, the Downing Information Industry Co., Ltd. had successfully developed a super computer, capable of performing 4 trillion calculations per second.

Code-named "Shuguang4000A", the planned super computer covers an area equal to a quarter of a football field, and it will use processors developed by AMD, a United States computer chip maker.

AMD and the Chinese company have signed a cooperation agreementto develop the planned super computer of China.

The fastest existing cluster computer system in the world is capable of calculating at a speed of 7.6 trillion bytes per second.

(People's Daily   July 26, 2003)