China’s national share of smart-computing power is 52%, compared to 19% in the U.S.

Recently, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released a white paper on the country’s computing power. According to the paper, which was translated by ChinAI, the country’s computing power reached 135 exaFlops (EFlops), an increase of 48 EFlops from last year. One EFlop is equivalent to the computing power of roughly two million laptops.

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So, what’s the point in all this computing speed? China is accelerating its computing power for a faster AI adoption. It is evident in the way it prioritizes its resources for next-generation computing. Beijing divides its AI needs into basic-, smart-, and super-computing. Between 2016 and 2,020 the country dropped its basic-computing share to 57% from 95% and increased smart-computing to 41% from 3%.

And according to the paper, China’s national share of smart-computing power is 52%, compared to 19% in the U.S. While the statistics need to be taken with a pinch of salt, it sure does reveal something about the direction in which China is moving.