China's LineShine supercomputer was ranked number one in the latest TOP500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers announced on June 23, 2026, surpassing the US El Capitan after nearly two years at the top [1, 2, 3, 4]. The system achieved a peak performance of 2.198 exaflops, exceeding El Capitan's 1.809 exaflops [5, 2, 3, 6, 4]. LineShine operates entirely on central processing units (CPUs) without using graphics processing units (GPUs), making it the first supercomputer to pass the 2 exaflops threshold using only CPUs [5, 2, 3, 6]. Jack Dongarra, co-founder of the TOP500, said, "This is the first time a computer with only CPUs has reached exascale" [5].
LineShine is hosted at the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, China, drawing about 42.2 megawatts of power during operation [1, 5, 2, 3, 6, 4, 7]. Experts note that the supercomputer is likely built with domestically designed chips but excludes advanced AI chips, possibly due to U.S. export controls [1, 8, 7]. The system ranked fourth on AI-simulating benchmarks but topped the LINPACK benchmark that measures performance solving dense linear equations typical of scientific computing and not AI workloads [1, 8, 3].
Jack Dongarra highlighted China's ability to "adapt to develop its own version of technology as good as – or maybe even better than – existing technology, despite US export controls" [5]. Addison Snell, CEO of Intersect360 Research, remarked, "I am not surprised they ranked first. What surprised me is that they submitted this system and wanted recognition for it" [1]. However, Jimmy Goodrich of the UC Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation said, "If the hyperscalers submitted their systems, this ’world’s fastest’ would not crack the top five," and added China hopes to "make the world believe export controls don't work" [1, 8].
The current TOP500 list includes five exascale supercomputers: one in China, three in the US, and one in Germany [2, 3, 6, 4]. LineShine's debut marks China's return to the TOP500 rankings after a three-year absence; China last topped the list in 2017 with Sunway TaihuLight [1, 5, 3, 4, 7]. El Capitan had held the top rank since November 2024 until it was surpassed by LineShine [3, 4].
