AMD Opteron processors are to power the fastest supercomputer in China, under a deal between the microprocessor firm and Chinese server vendor Dawning announced today.

The Dawning 4000A supercomputer is planned to run at maximum speeds in excess of 10 trillion operations per second, or 10 Tflops. Downing says this capacity will propel the machine high into the league of top supercomputers worldwide.

More than 2,000 AMD 64-bit Opteron 800-series processors will power the system, which will have a memory capacity of up to 2256GB.

End users for supercomputing in China include scientific research institutes, commercial establishments, private enterprises, and computing centres. Users of the system will come from these groups, although their exact make-up is yet to be announced - as is a timescale for the project.

The project has won the backing of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. AMD said it is "committed to working to obtain any necessary US government approval" to participate in the project. ®

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