Chinese supercomputer tops US models in global ranking for first time since 2017 | CNN Business

China has clinched the top spot on a list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, overtaking the United States for the first time since 2017 with a model powered by homegrown chips amid an intense race for tech supremacy between the two superpowers. The LineShine machine, housed at the National Supercomputing Center in China’s tech hub of Shenzhen, replaced the American titleholder El Capitan in the latest biannual TOP500 ranking, which tracks the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The ranking released on Tuesday showed the LineShine achieved a computing speed 20% faster than El Capitan, which is located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. Supercomputers, designed for complex computations at unmatched speeds, are often used to discover and develop new drugs, forecast weather, train AI models and conduct a wide range of simulations. The success of the LineShine comes as the US and China ratchet up their tech rivalry and Washington attempts to curb Beijing’s access to frontier technologies from AI to chips that could power its military. Since President Donald Trump’s first term, the US has ramped up export controls and restrictions aiming to