Chinese Supercomputer Is the World's Fastest

China's National University of Defense Technology announced October 28 that it has developed the world's fastest supercomputer.

The machine, called Tianhe-1A (Tianhe means "Milky Way"), has more than 2.5 petaflops per second of peak processing power, chipmaker Nvidia says. Nvidia supplied graphics processors to Tianhe-1A.

That means the Chinese computer is far more powerful than the previous record holder, the Cray XT5 Jaguar. The Cray, which is housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, has a peak output of 1.75 petaflops per second.


The Tianhe-1A is, in a way, emblematic of China's ascent as a global power. The country now has the world's biggest auto market; it also surpassed Japan this year as the second-largest economy on the planet. And it's still posting breakneck growth: In the third quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said last week, the Chinese economy expanded by 9.6 percent.

Next year, it's on pace for even quicker growth. The International Monetary Fund anticipates that the Chinese economy will expand by 10.5 percent in 2011.

It's hard to ignore China's growth story - and to learn more about investing in emerging markets like China, check out Kiplinger's articles and resources.