Guizhou considering establishment of mega computing center

Southwest China's Guizhou Province is mulling establishing a mega computing center that can both process data from the world's largest fill-aperture radio telescope, which will finish testing in two years, and fulfill the computing needs of the local government and enterprises.

Liao Fei, head of the Science and Technology Department in Guizhou government, told the Global Times that the cost for the center is estimated to be below 1 billion yuan ($145 million) and the government is open to cooperation with both domestic and overseas enterprises.

Liao said that the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nicknamed Tianyan, will start a test run in the second half of this year. The testing will be completed in two years and the telescope will be put into full use.

FAST is located in Pingtang county, Guizhou, constructed in a natural depression sinkhole caused by karst processes in the region. It is the world's largest fill-aperture radio telescope and was completed in September 2016.

Liao said on Monday that the data collected by the FAST will initially be available to Chinese scientists only but can be made available to other countries after a few years, following a common international practice.

He also noted that Guizhou's data processing center will be different from other super computers, such as the Taihu Light supercomputer located in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

"The cost of building another supercomputer with Taihu Light's processing speed is above 3 billion yuan. Given Guizhou's development level, it is not reasonable to invest such a great amount of money. What we are looking for is a machine that is capable of dealing with computing algorithms that also complies with our demands."