2022 China Supercomputing Industry Overview: Domestic Chip Localization and Accelerated Market Competition

The report examines three key questions: the current state of the global supercomputing market, the status of China's supercomputing market, the future market space, and the competitive landscape.

Globally, HPC servers dominate the market with a 49.7% share in 2021, followed by HPC storage. Six application categories exist, with industrial supercomputers being the most numerous (235 units), followed by research (116) and academic (86). China's supercomputing capacity has continuously grown, reaching 530,240,332 GFlops in June 2022, and performance has increased over 40,000‑fold since 2002.

From 2017‑2021, the global supercomputing market grew at a compound annual growth rate of 12.2%. The HPC market segment led by companies such as Huawei Technology captured the largest share (17.2% in 2021). Forecasts for 2022‑2026 suggest stable growth for major vendors, a declining market concentration, and an increase in revenue for the top‑9 vendors from US$122.8 billion in 2021 to an estimated US$184.5 billion in 2026.

In June 2022, Lenovo ranked first in supercomputer manufacturing with 161 units (32.2% share), while the US‑based Huawei Technology placed second with 96 units (19.2%). Market concentration remains high (CR3 = 61%, CR5 = 77%). In terms of compute power, Huawei Technology leads with 1,928,596,704 GFlops, followed by Fujitsu and Lenovo. Lenovo’s production has shown steady growth, whereas China’s Sugon (中科曙光) has declined.

The global HPC server structure is still led by servers (49.7% in 2021) and storage, both showing gradual growth. The application landscape is divided into six categories, with industrial use remaining the largest, while academic and research usage is expected to increase.

China remains the world leader in the number of supercomputers, with 173 units (34.6% of the global total) as of June 2022, maintaining its top position for nine consecutive periods. However, in compute power the United States leads with 2,085,045,140 GFlops (47.4% share), and Japan overtook China in June 2022 with 626,505,930 GFlops, becoming the second‑largest provider.

From 2020‑2022, the top five supercomputer‑manufacturing countries were China, the United States, Japan, Germany, and France. China’s share of units has been decreasing, while Germany’s has risen, overtaking France in June 2021 to become fourth globally.

In terms of total compute power, the United States holds the leading share (48.4% in 2022) with a continued upward trend. Japan’s share rose to 14.2%, surpassing China, whose share is declining. Supplier market concentration remains high, with the top three manufacturers accounting for 61% of units and the top five for 77%.

Regarding supplier compute power, the US‑based Huawei Technology dominates with a sharp lead, followed by Fujitsu and Lenovo. Lenovo’s manufacturing numbers have risen steadily from 2017‑2022, while Sugon’s production has shown a gradual decline.