High-tech firms urged to offset blows from US curbs

Chinese high-tech companies should prepare for possible expansion of US government technology restrictions to more emerging sectors and should press ahead with developing core technologies, a leading technology expert said.

The comment came after the Bureau of Industry and Security of the United States Department of Commerce announced on Monday that it had put five high-performance computing groups on its Entity List, barring them from buying US parts and components without government approval due to security concerns.

Supercomputer manufacturer Sugon, supercomputer research institute Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology, semiconductor company Higon, Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit and Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, along with numerous "aliases" of the five entities, were added to the list as a result of security concerns.

China's supercomputer manufacturer Dawning Information Industry Co, also known as Sugon, suspended trading of its shares on Monday. It said in a statement that it is evaluating the possible impacts the restriction represents for the company. Its shares will resume trading on Monday at the latest.

The US government blacklisted Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co and its affiliates last month, barring the company from accessing any US technologies without special approval.

"Chinese tech companies should get ready for the possible suppression of Chinese cutting-edge technologies by the US administration, apart from the telecommunications and advanced computing sector," said Xiang Ligang, director-general of Information Consumption Alliance, a telecom industry association.

Xiang said the restrictions will have an effect on the companies in the short-term, adding that they need time to seek new components and parts suppliers, but what Chinese supercomputer manufacturers should do is to gear up to master core technologies in chips.

Xiang said China has had some supercomputer achievements, such as the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer and Tianhe-2A, in operation at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

The ruling also has an effect on US companies, given that Sugon is dependent on US suppliers, including chipmakers Intel, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

China continues to dominate the list of the world's fastest supercomputers by the number of computer units, according to a semiannual ranking of the Top 500 published last week.

The nation tops the supercomputer list with 219 systems, or 43.8 percent of the total, followed by the US with 116 systems and Japan with 29, followed by France, Britain and Germany, according to the ranking.

Major Chinese supercomputer vendors all improved their share in the past six months. Lenovo claims the greatest number of systems on the list with 173, followed by Inspur with 71, and Sugon with 63.

Supercomputers are used heavily in scientific research. Sugon is a major provider of data centers and supercomputers in China, and one of the leading computer systems manufacturers in the world.

Last week, the company also showcased its new generation of silicon cube high-performance computer in Europe during the International Supercomputing Conference.