A supercomputer in China has displaced its US rival to become the world's most powerful, marking the first time since 2017 that a Chinese machine has topped the Top500 rankings in a development that underscores the intensifying global race for technological leadership and raises questions about Europe's capacity to compete in critical AI infrastructure.
The LineShine computer at China's National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen achieved 2.198 exaflops, meaning it can perform more than 2 quintillion calculations per second, according to scientists involved in the Top500 project. The system displaced El Capitan at the US government's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which now ranks second, ahead of two other US supercomputers at national laboratories in Tennessee and Illinois.
A Different Technological Approach
LineShine differs from other high-performance computers in that it runs entirely on conventional computer chips, or CPUs, instead of the graphics processors, or GPUs, commonly used for AI applications. The system requires about 42.2 megawatts of electricity to operate, according to the list released on Tuesday. It was LineShine's debut on the rankings.
Germany's Jupiter supercomputer dropped to fifth place in the latest rankings. The five machines are the only publicly verified exascale computers in the world. Other countries with machines in the top 10 include Italy, Switzerland and Japan.
Europe's Competitive Position
The UK has 11 machines in the list of 500, with the University of Bristol's Isambard-AI the highest ranked of that group at 11, down two places since the last ranking. Isambard-AI, fitted with 5,400 Nvidia "superchips", sits inside a black metal cage topped with razor wire. Western Australia's Setonix, ranked 86th, is the best performing of the four machines located in Australia.
Last year the EU revealed a €20bn plan to build sites equipped with vast supercomputers to develop the next generation of AI models, as Europe attempts to catch leaders in the US and China. The AI "gigafactories" will target "moonshot" innovations in areas such as healthcare, biotech, industry, robotics and scientific discovery.
Environmental and Social Concerns
The best-performing AI factories have supercomputers equipped with up to 25,000 advanced AI processors, but a gigafactory would exceed 100,000 AI processors, the EU strategy document said. These power-hungry facilities, which can require huge amounts of water for cooling, should run "as much as possible" on a green energy supply, an EU official said, with plans for "recycling" water if it was used. Campaigners fear power-hungry datacentres could undermine Europe's climate ambitions.
Why This Matters:
China's return to the top of supercomputing rankings after nine years highlights the geopolitical dimension of technological competition at a moment when Europe risks falling further behind in critical AI infrastructure. The EU's €20bn gigafactory plan represents an attempt to build strategic autonomy in computing power essential for scientific research, healthcare innovation, and industrial competitiveness. Yet the tension between massive energy requirements and climate commitments poses a fundamental challenge: Europe cannot achieve digital sovereignty while abandoning its Green Deal obligations. The question is whether public investment can deliver both technological capacity and environmental responsibility—or whether the pressure to compete will force compromises that undermine the continent's climate leadership. For workers in research, healthcare, and industry, access to advanced computing infrastructure will determine whether European institutions can deliver on promises of innovation-led prosperity.