Chinese supercomputer leapfrogs the rest of the world to top the HPC charts

For decades now the USA has held the number one spot as home to the world’s most powerful supercomputers. But now, maybe predictably, that run has ended. A supercomputer in China now outranks its US counterparts as the world’s most powerful. It is the first time since 2017 that a Chinese computer has topped a list sometimes viewed as a measure of a nation’s technological prowess.

The LineShine computer in Shenzhen displaced top-ranked US computer El Capitan in the Top500 rankings released on Tuesday. It was LineShine’s debut on the list.

China’s LineShine differs from other high-performance computers in that it runs entirely on conventional computer chips (CPUs), instead of the Graphics Processor Units (GPUs), commonly used for Artificial Intelligence (AI) specific supercomputers. It requires about 42.2 megawatts of electricity to operate, according to the list.

Supercomputers, which are more than 1,000 times faster than a regular computer, can be used to hunt for medical breakthroughs, model climate systems, simulate nuclear explosions, predict human behaviour and perform virtual weapons testing.

The Future and Deep Future of AI 2040, a keynote by futurist Matthew Griffin

Scientists involved in the Top500 project said LineShine at China’s National Supercomputing Center achieved 2.198 exaflops, meaning it can perform more than 2 quintillion calculations per second.

El Capitan, at the US government’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, now ranks second, ahead of two other US supercomputers at national laboratories in Tennessee and Illinois.

Dropping to fifth place is the Jupiter supercomputer in Germany. The five are the only publicly verified Exascale computers in the world. Other countries with machines in the top 10 include Italy, Switzerland and Japan.

The UK has 11 machines in the list of 500. The University of Bristol’s Isambard-AI is highest ranked of that group at 11, down two places since the last ranking. Isambard-AI, fitted with 5,400 Nvidia “superchips”, sits inside a black metal cage topped with razor wire. Western Australia’s Setonix – ranked 86th – is the best performing of the four machines located in Australia.

Last year the EU revealed a €20bn (£17bn) plan to build sites equipped with vast supercomputers to develop the next generation of AI models, as Europe attempts to catch leaders in the US and China.

The AI “gigafactories” will target “moonshot” innovations in areas such as healthcare, biotech, industry, robotics and scientific discovery.

The best-performing AI factories have supercomputers equipped with up to 25,000 advanced AI processors, but a gigafactory would exceed 100,000 AI processors, the EU strategy document said.

These power-hungry facilities, which can require huge amounts of water for cooling, should run “as much as possible” on a green energy supply, an EU official said, with plans for “recycling” water if it was used.

First published on Fanatical Futurist on 23 June 2026.

311 Intelligence

What this means

Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit

The big shift is that the top of the supercomputer league is now contested by two superpowers. China's LineShine has taken first place from the US El Capitan, the first Chinese machine at the top since 2017, while Europe spends €20bn on AI gigafactories to catch up. Our Starburst data shows why that matters: we track the AI Compute Divide, advanced computing power concentrating in a few countries, as a Prepare trend, and we expect Exascale Computing, supercomputers doing at least one quintillion sums a second, to reach wide use by 2032.

What it means by sector.

• Governments and defence: supercomputers simulate nuclear explosions and run virtual weapons tests. A list sometimes viewed as a measure of a nation's technological prowess now has China at the top, which adds to the US and China rivalry we track as Bi-Polar and Multi-Polar World.
• Research and healthcare: the same machines hunt for medical breakthroughs and model climate systems. Access to the fastest systems shapes which countries lead in science.
• Energy and utilities: LineShine needs about 42.2 megawatts, and the EU says its gigafactories can require huge amounts of water for cooling. We track Water Scarcity and Stress as an Act now trend, so siting these facilities is becoming a resource question.

What to do now.

• Map where your critical computing and AI workloads run, and which countries' rules and supply chains they depend on.
• Ask your cloud and computing suppliers for the energy and water use behind the services you buy.
• If you are in Europe, track the EU gigafactory programme for access to large-scale computing.

The Starburst technologies behind this story

From the 311 Technology Starburst (first product, expected wide use and readiness):

Technology	Category	First product	Wide use	Action	TRL
Exascale Computing	Compute	2020	2032	Explore	9
Zettascale Computing	Compute	2025	2040	Watch	3
Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling	Compute	2018	2028	Prepare	9

And the trends they feed, from the 311 Trends Starburst:

Trend	Wide use	Action
AI Compute Divide	2028	Prepare
Bi-Polar and Multi-Polar World	2030	Prepare
Water Scarcity and Stress	2018	Act now

How this moves the trend

The supercomputer race has run for years. In 2018 IBM's Summit went live in the US as the world's most powerful AI supercomputer, and in 2022 ORNL unveiled the world's first exaflop supercomputer. In 2023 Europe prepared its first home grown Exascale computer, and in 2024 Japan set out plans for the world's first Zettascale AI supercomputer. LineShine shows China can now top the exascale league without relying on GPUs.

Go deeper with 311

• The 311 Starburst Centre: every technology and trend above, with timelines and readiness.
• 311 Vantage: ask what the supercomputing race means for your organisation and get a plain English executive brief.
• The Exponential Technology Codex and the Annual Trends Codex: the technologies and trends reshaping every industry.
• Book a briefing or keynote on the future of computing and geopolitics for your board or leadership team.