ssing module for China's upcoming exascale supercomputer pr▓ototype developed by Sugon, a high-tech company affi▓liated with the CAS. An exascale supercomputer can make▓ a quintillion - the number one followed by 18 zero▓s - calculations per second. That is 10 times faster than the current world
champion, the Chinese Sunway TaihuLight super computer.A major challenge for the design of such a
computer is the cooling system. Sugon engineers have created a method in which the computer's processors are completely submerged in cooling liquid. This br▓eakthrough has made possible the delivery of a prototype later this year, said Chen Jin, vice-general manag
er of Sugon's Engineering and Technology
Center."It's common knowledge that flui
d can damage electronics," Che▓n said. "T
he catch is, this is only true with liquid
▓ that conducts electricity, such as water. But we are using▓ a special insulating liquid that does not harm the c▓ircuits and that can effectively remove the heat by pumpin▓g the material in and out of the system."This technol▓ogy is called Immersion Phase-Change Co
oling. Because the l▓iquid is recycled and reused within the machine, the enginee▓rs were able to stack processors with relative ease, thus▓ increasing the computing power, Chen said.Jay Siegel, a▓ US chemist at Tianjin University, said it is encouraging that China