Published : 26/08/2025
On August 26, 1973, China's first integrated circuit computer capable of one million computations per second was successfully trial-produced in Beijing.
On that day, a piece of exciting news spread nationwide from units such as Peking University, the Beijing Cable Factory, and the Ministry of Fuel and Chemical Industries.
They reported the successful trial production of China's first integrated circuit computer capable of one million computations per second.
This is a significant achievement in the history of contemporary Chinese technological development and marks a milestone in the history of Chinese computer development.
After the trial production, the computer underwent more than 3,000 hours of trial operation, demonstrating stable performance and good quality, meeting the predetermined design requirements.
It became a significant achievement in China's scientific and technological development at the time.
After the Reform and Opening-up started, the development of computers in China has evolved rapidly, with continuous breakthroughs in research and development.
On June 20, 2016, at the TOP500 organisation's International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Frankfurt, the "Sunway TaihuLight" supercomputer system, built entirely using domestic processors, topped the list, becoming the world's first supercomputer to exceed one quintillion calculations per second at that time.
Since the founding of New China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has always attached great importance to the development of science and technology.
In January 1956, the Central Committee of the CPC convened a meeting on the issue of intellectuals, where Zhou Enlai delivered a report on the issue of intellectuals, calling on the entire party and the people of the whole country to "march toward modern science."
Mao Zedong, in his speech on the last day of the meeting, called on the entire party to strive to learn scientific and technological knowledge to quickly catch up with the world's advanced scientific levels, giving tremendous encouragement to the vast number of scientific and technological workers.
After the meeting, a scientific craze quickly swept across the nation. With the strong support of the state, many scientific and technological workers devoted themselves to researching scientific knowledge and engaging in R&D, including computer development work.
In 1952, under the leadership of Hua Luogeng (華羅庚), Xia Peisu (夏培肅), Min Naida (閔乃大), and Wang Chuanying (傳英) formed China's first computer research team, paving the way for the initial development of computers in China.
After dedicated efforts, Xia Peisu was responsible for designing and developing the Universal Electronic Digital Computer 107 machine in 1958.
This was China's first self-developed universal electronic digital computer, proving through facts and actions that the Chinese at that time were capable of developing their own computers. This is also recognised as the first generation of computers in China.