&w=3840&q=100)
China launches 12 satellites to build world's 1st space-based supercomputer
Twelve advanced satellites, equipped with AI-powered computing systems and high-speed inter-satellite links, were launched into orbit last week aboard a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, according to state-run Guangming Daily.
The satellites mark the first phase of China's groundbreaking Three-Body Computing Constellation – an ambitious space-based supercomputing network led by Zhejiang Lab. Once fully deployed, the constellation will deliver real-time data processing in orbit with a staggering capacity of 1,000 peta operations per second (POPS).
The satellites in the planned 2,800-strong orbital supercomputer, created by ADA Space, Zhijiang Laboratory and Neijang High-Tech Zone, will be able to autonomously collect and process data without the need for terrestrial stations, the company said in a statement.
Each of the 12 satellites can handle a staggering 744 trillion operations per second and are interlinked via ultra-fast laser connections capable of transferring data at up to 100 gigabits per second, according to Guangming Daily. Together, the initial cluster delivers 5 peta operations per second (POPS) of computing power and 30 terabytes of onboard storage.
Equipped with an advanced space-based AI model featuring 8 billion parameters, these satellites can process raw data directly in orbit. They will also serve as testbeds for cutting-edge technologies, including cross-orbit laser communication and deep-space astronomical observations.
According to the Chinese government, the mission, which marks a major step in China's space-based computing efforts, aims to build a network of thousands of satellites with a total computing power of 1,000 POPS. The constellation will enable real-time, in-orbit data processing to accelerate AI development in space.
AI data centres in space: Power saving
The idea of building AI-powered data centres in space could also offer a promising solution to Earth's growing climate concerns. The advantages of a space-based supercomputer extend far beyond faster communication, according to the South China Morning Post. Traditional satellites face significant bottlenecks—limited bandwidth and scarce ground stations mean that under 10 per cent of the data they collect ever reaches Earth. But orbiting data centres could revolutionise this process.
As Harvard astronomer and space historian Jonathan McDowell told the outlet, these systems can harness solar power and release excess heat into space, dramatically cutting down on energy consumption and carbon emissions. He added that similar initiatives could soon emerge from the US and Europe.
Global data centres are on track to consume over 1,000 terawatt hours of electricity annually by 2026 – a figure comparable to Japan's entire power usage – according to estimates from the International Energy Agency.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
18 minutes ago
- Time of India
US embeds trackers in AI chip shipments to catch diversions to China
US authorities have secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips they see as being at high risk of illegal diversion to China, according to two people with direct knowledge of the previously unreported law enforcement measures aim to detect AI chips being diverted to destinations which are under US export restrictions, and apply only to select shipments under investigation, the people show the lengths to which the US has gone to enforce its chip export restrictions on China, even as the Trump administration has sought to relax some curbs on Chinese access to advanced American semiconductors. The trackers can help build cases against people and companies who profit from violating US export controls, said the people who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Location trackers are a decades-old investigative tool used by US law enforcement agencies to track products subject to export restrictions, such as airplane parts. They have been used to combat the illegal diversion of semiconductors in recent years, one source said. Five other people actively involved in the AI server supply chain say they are aware of the use of the trackers in shipments of servers from manufacturers such as Dell and Super Micro, which include chips from Nvidia and AMD. Those people said the trackers are typically hidden in the packaging of the server shipments. They did not know which parties were involved in installing them and where along the shipping route they were put in. Reuters was not able to determine how often the trackers have been used in chip related investigations or when US authorities started using them to investigate chip smuggling. The US started restricting the sale of advanced chips by Nvidia, AMD and other manufacturers to China in 2022. In one 2024 case described by two of the people involved in the server supply chain, a shipment of Dell servers with Nvidia chips included both large trackers on the shipping boxes and smaller, more discreet devices hidden inside the packaging - and even within the servers themselves. A third person said they had seen images and videos of trackers being removed by other chip resellers from Dell and Super Micro servers. The person said some of the larger trackers were roughly the size of a smartphone. The US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls and enforcement, is typically involved, and Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, may take part too, said the sources. The HSI and FBI both declined to comment. The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment. The Chinese foreign ministry did not have immediate comment. Super Micro said in a statement that it does not disclose its "security practices and policies in place to protect our worldwide operations, partners, and customers." It declined to comment on any tracking actions by US authorities. Dell said it is "not aware of a US Government initiative to place trackers in its product shipments." Nvidia declined to comment, while AMD did not answer a request for comment. Chip restrictions The United States, which dominates the global AI chip supply chain, has sought to limit exports of chips and other technology to China in recent years to restrain its military modernization. It has also put restrictions on the sale of chips to Russia to undercut war efforts against Ukraine. The White House and both houses of Congress have proposed requiring US chip firms to include location verification technology with their chips to prevent them from being diverted to countries where US export regulations restrict sales. China has slammed the US exports curbs as part of a campaign to suppress its rise and criticized the location tracking proposal. Last month, the country's powerful cyberspace regulator summoned Nvidia to a meeting to express its concerns over the risks of its chips containing "backdoors" that would allow remote access or control, which the company has strongly denied. In January, Reuters reported the US had traced organized AI chip smuggling to China via countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and the UAE - but it is unclear if tracking devices were involved. The use of trackers by US law enforcement goes back decades. In 1985, Hughes Aircraft shipped equipment subject to US export controls, according to a court decision reviewed by Reuters. Executing a search warrant, the US Customs Service intercepted the crate at a Houston airport and installed a tracking device, the decision noted. US export enforcement agents sometimes install trackers after getting administrative approval. Other times they get a judge to issue a warrant authorizing use of the device, one source said. With a warrant, it is easier to use the information as evidence in a criminal case. A company may be told about the tracker, if they are not a subject of the investigation, and may consent to the government's installation of the trackers, the source added. But the devices can also be installed without their knowledge. People involved in diverting export-controlled chip and server shipments to China said they were aware of the devices. Two of the supply chain sources, who are China-based resellers of export-controlled chips, said they regularly took care to inspect diverted shipments of AI chip servers for the trackers due to the risks of the devices being embedded. An affidavit filed with a U.S Department of Justice complaint regarding the arrests of two Chinese nationals charged with illegally shipping tens of millions of dollars' worth of AI chips to China earlier this month describes one co-conspirator instructing another to check for trackers on Quanta H200 servers, which contain Nvidia chips. It said the English language text was sent by a co-conspirator, whose name was redacted, to one of the defendants, Yang Shiwei . "Pay attention to see if there is a tracker on it, you must look for it carefully," said the person, who went on to call the Trump administration by an obscenity. "Who knows what they will do."
Mint
27 minutes ago
- Mint
Tencent's Revenue Beats Estimates in Boost for AI Ambitions
(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s revenue beat estimates, bolstering investor expectations that its expanding gaming and social media portfolio will provide dry powder for an intensifying global AI race. Revenue for the three months ended June rose to 184.5 billion yuan ($25.7 billion), versus an average estimate of 179 billion yuan. Net income for the period came to 55.6 billion yuan, compared with projections for 50.8 billion yuan. China's most valuable company is accelerating spending on AI research and product rollouts after a string of rivals launched open-sourced models to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic. The Shenzhen firm counts on marquee gaming franchises and super-app WeChat to fund such initiatives. Yet a potential global downturn this year — coupled with the Trump administration's tariffs campaign – threatens to hurt Tencent's sprawling online businesses from payments to advertising and cloud computing. The world's biggest games publisher kicks off a closely watched earnings season for Chinese big tech firms, which are riding investor euphoria around the breakout success of DeepSeek. After years of regulatory scrutiny and Covid-era disruption, the country's biggest tech firms are once again ramping up deals and competing fiercely for users to propel growth. Like Big Tech in the US, much of the industry's attention is also focused on how to invest in AI — and monetize it. Tencent alone has gained more than $170 billion this year, though some analysts think it remains undervalued relative to peers such as Meta Platforms Inc. The company's AI efforts include integrating DeepSeek's R1 and own Hunyuan model into a suite of products and games, while renting out computing to clients keen to train or run AI systems. Yet its 30% gain in 2025 that trails Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s, whose Qwen family of models consistently ranks among the industry's top performers. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Tencent's earnings growth is likely to decelerate to about 9% in 2Q, down from 25% during 1Q, following the seasonal peak in its domestic video game business. The internet giant should remain relatively unaffected by US tariffs, though its fintech and ad divisions remain exposed to potential second-order effects, should China's economic growth slow in 2H. Tencent's growth is set to normalize this year after an exceptional 2024, with earnings growth due to decelerate to the mid-teen percentage range. Geopolitical pressure and rising economic headwinds present risks to 2H, though Tencent is better positioned to navigate these than its e-commerce peers. Click here for the research. Tencent is trying to sustain growth at its games division, still the largest source of the company's revenue. It scored some of 2024's biggest hits from DnF Mobile to Delta Force. Beyond earnings, the market is looking forward to next Tuesday's launch of Valorant Mobile, a highly-anticipated smartphone version of Riot Games Inc.'s seminal title. The title should help drive Tencent's revenue from later this year through the first half of 2026, according to Goldman Sachs Inc. Other upcoming titles include an open-world game set in the Honor of Kings universe. The company is set to unveil new ones next week at Gamescom in Germany. It's also more focused on protecting margins than some of its rivals. Tencent has stayed out of an increasingly cutthroat battle in e-commerce, where Alibaba, Meituan and Inc. have sought to outspend each other with subsidies. The trio is slated to report earnings in coming weeks, starting with on Thursday. With a billion-plus users, WeChat remains Tencent's most dependable asset as it shoulders more burdens on monetization in areas from mini-games to advertising. The ubiquitous Chinese app is carrying more advertising within features like search and short-video feeds, chipping away at TikTok-owner ByteDance Ltd.'s key revenue stream. Yet WeChat Pay faces a renewed battle with Alibaba-affiliate Ant Group Co., which has garnered 100 million users for a tap-to-pay feature at stores and restaurants. Tencent hopes WeChat will remain the killer app of the generative AI era. Its unique ecosystem of mini-programs, executives argue, could evolve to become an operating system for agentic AI tools that autonomously perform tasks on behalf of users. The company has rolled out a series of AI tools for game designers to generate in-game avatars and assets. --With assistance from Luz Ding, Henry Ren, Vlad Savov, Ville Heiskanen and Amy Thomson.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Nvidia's H20 chips under fire in China: What's behind the dispute?
China is turning up the heat on tech companies in its turf. Chinese regulators have called in major internet companies, including Tencent, ByteDance and Baidu, to explain purchases of Nvidia's H20 chips, Reuters reported. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and other government agencies have, in recent weeks, conveyed concerns over potential information risks linked to the US-made processors, specifically those from Nvidia and AMD. Citing a source, Reuters said that authorities were worried that the materials Nvidia asks its buyers to submit to the US government could contain sensitive information, including client data. Beijing 'discourages' Nvidia H20 chip use The report further said that although the companies have not been ordered to stop buying the Nvidia H20 chips, but Chinese officials have discouraged its use, especially in government-related or national security projects. Earlier on Tuesday, several companies received official notices urging them to avoid the H20 chips for state enterprise or private sector work tied to national security, according to a report by Bloomberg. Another report claimed that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent were told by the CAC in the past two weeks to suspend H20 purchases altogether due to data security concerns, The Information reported on Tuesday. The report said the directive came shortly after the US reversed export curbs on the chip. Meanwhile, Nvidia on Tuesday clarified that the H20 chip was 'not a military product or for government infrastructure'. What's behind China-Nvidia fallout? Tensions between Nvidia and Chinese authorities have grown over the past two years amid tighter US export controls on advanced chips. The US restricted the sale of Nvidia's most powerful AI chips to China under the Biden administration in 2022, in an effort to slow Beijing's progress in artificial intelligence and military technologies. In response, Nvidia developed the H20, a less advanced processor designed to comply with US rules while serving the Chinese market. But in April this year, the Trump administration further imposed a new ban specifically on Nvidia's H20 chips, which had been designed for the Chinese market after previous rounds of export controls. Since the export ban, the H20 became the most sophisticated chip Nvidia could sell in China after the 2022 curbs. The Trump administration reversed the decision in July under a deal that requires Nvidia and AMD to share 15 per cent of revenue from certain China sales with the US government. But beginning this month, Chinese regulators have been urging companies, particularly state-owned enterprises and firms involved in sensitive projects, to avoid using the H20 citing potential 'backdoor' security risks, the chip's technological limitations, and the need to prioritise domestic alternatives such as those made by Huawei. Chinese state media have also increased coverage of alleged security vulnerabilities and shortcomings of Nvidia chips, reflecting Beijing's broader push for self-reliance in technology. Impact on Nvidia's China business The scrutiny threatens Nvidia's $17 billion in annual sales to China, which accounts for 13 per cent of its total revenue. The uncertain trade policies of the US and its back-and-forth attitude towards China has seen the communist nation pushing for accelerating work on local AI processors, even though US restrictions on advanced chip-making equipment, including lithography machines, have limited production capacity. Huawei and other domestic firms have been developing chips that rival the H20's performance. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that it hoped the US would help maintain stability in the global chip supply chain.
