CRI听力:US Allegation of China's Supercomputer Is 'Speculation'

Tianhe-2, which literally means "Milky Way-2" in Chinese, is believed to have been world's most powerful supercomputer for the past 18 months.

It uses 80,000 Intel Xeon chips to create a computational capacity of more than 33 petaflops.

This means that the computer can undertake some 33 quadrillion floating point operations per second.

This year, the supercomputer is set to increase number-crunching abilities by undergoing a series of upgrades, and the upgrades are mainly depending on new Intel Xeon processor chips.

Intel applied for a license to export tens of thousands of chips to update the Chinese machine but this request was refused by the US government.

US Department of Commerce says this is due to the concern about nuclear explosive activities that may be conducted by the machine.

However Yin Zhuo, a senior Chinese military expert has denounced this decision as absolutely unfounded speculation.

"It is absolutely impossible to conduct such confidential projects as nuclear explosion on a platform that is open to the public. We have a separate system for this. So, I say that it is out of thin air, pure and simple, for the United States to make such speculations. Its purpose is nothing but to restrict China's high-tech developmental capabilities so that China will not become a rival for the United States."

Yin mentions the United States has taken moves to limit US corporations from exporting computer technology to China in recent years.

He reckons such restrictions will, in the long run, tarnish the business reputation of the US.

"The United States has taken the move because in recent years, the overall computing power of China's supercomputer has surpassed that of the United States and, of course, it means a great challenge to its scientific and technological development. Our computer system is open to the society. In addition, we have paid high prices to buy chips from the United States. These companies have huge gains from the deals. If they are willing to sell, we are willing to buy. It is a fair deal conforming to the regulations of the World Trade Organization."

The export restrictions were put in a notice on February 18, introduced by the US Commerce Department.

The notice has also blacklisted four institutions where the Chinese supercomputer would be located, including the National University of Defense Technology, the National Supercomputing Center in Changsha, Guangzhou, and Tianjin.

For CRI, I'm Yu Yang.