China and the US for a long time, compete with each other in many respects. One of them is the development of technology that can also be used to increase its military capabilities. In this respect, the United States dominate over your opponent, but the Chinese constantly trying to catch up with them. In this struggle are useful supercomputers, which is why the US government decided to put pressure on Intel and forbade him to export certain processors to China.
The biggest influence on this decision was build by the Chinese supercomputer Tianhe-2 (Milky Way 2), which cost about $ 390 million, comprised of more than 3.1 million Intel cores and upon completion of its construction was twice as fast as the best American government supercomputer. In response, the United States announced the creation of more efficient units, but China quickly began to make plans on further expansion of its design. It would have the power of up to 300 petaflopsów and consist of Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi cards.
Intel, of course, is an American company, so the local government decided to fight with China using their influence largest supplier. For this reason, the US Department of Commerce ordered Intel to apply for obtaining a special license for the sale of equipment for computing systems located outside the United States. This document would be issued for every transaction. The manufacturer agreed to these terms, claiming that always works with national law and there is nothing to hide. It turned out, however, that to obtain a license is not so simple, because the US government has categorically prohibits trade with some Chinese institutions.
The black list included four largest Chinese supercomputing centers. As informed, the prohibition of exports is associated with the production of nuclear weapons that are carried out in these institutions, which is dangerous to the security and interests of the United States. Tightening is quite effective because it prevents the use of the most efficient microprocessor architectures that have been patented by US corporations. Independent develop their own solutions may take a very long time, so the Middle Kingdom could be significantly behind the US in terms of developing their own supercomputers.
The ban on exports of course, also strikes at the Intel because it deprives him of a very lucrative contracts. But it is possible that the Americans somehow cope with the limitations, such as creating a foreign company. Alternatively, the Chinese would buy a US company that controls the patents used in microprocessors, which would be used to create your own individual.
In Świerk running one of the most powerful supercomputers in Poland
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