Recently, Shanghai Smartlogic Technology Ltd. (Smart Logic) unveiled Tianqiong, China's first independently developed 3D scientific computer. Compared with traditional two-dimensional supercomputing systems, Tianqiong delivers performance improvements of two to four orders of magnitude, injecting strong innovation momentum into China's emerging global frontier of integrated artificial intelligence (AI) and scientific computing.
Global competition in artificial intelligence has entered a new stage. Guided by the Opinions on Deepening the Implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Plus Initiative, China's related industries are advancing toward enhancing computing power, algorithms, and data supply, while promoting the integrated development of AI-driven technological R&D, engineering application, and product deployment in key fields such as biomanufacturing, new materials, and semiconductors. Building intelligent computing infrastructure with interdisciplinary general-purpose capabilities, an independently controllable underlying architecture, and support for multi-scale scientific research tasks has become a crucial breakthrough point in this competition.
Against this backdrop, Smart Logic has achieved significant breakthroughs through innovations in underlying architecture. With its fully self-developed algebraic processing unit architecture, MaPU, the company fills a critical gap in China's domestic chip architecture landscape and delivers a highly efficient, fully localized, and reliable solutions for high-performance computing platforms in the AI era.
The MaPU architecture was invented in 2009 by Wang Donglin, Founder of Smart Logic and former Director of the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After over a decade of R&D and optimization, MaPU has achieved fundamental breakthroughs in kernels, instruction sets, and computing frameworks. By combining the efficiency of ASICs with the flexible programmability of CPUs and GPUs, MaPU marks a major innovation in general-purpose computing architecture.
Currently, Smart Logic has commercialized scientific computing, communications, and video products developed based on the MaPU architecture, ranging from enhancing smartphone imaging to providing critical support for China's domestic satellite internet communications. Building on this foundation, China's first independently developed 3D scientific computer is expected to become a key driving force for breakthroughs in the field of AI4S (AI for Science)—an emerging frontier of research and industrial development that leverages AI to accelerate scientific discovery Leveraging the dual source innovations of the MaPU architecture and a fully 3D interconnected system, Tianqiong achieves ultra-low communication latency and computational efficiency improvements by orders of magnitude. Natively suited to solving a wide range of three-dimensional simulation problems, it delivers two to four orders of magnitude acceleration compared with traditional two-dimensional architecture–based supercomputing systems.
As the frontiers of science rapidly advance toward atomic, subatomic, and quantum scales, there is an urgent need for new tools capable of enabling breakthroughs in understanding the fundamental laws of the microscopic world. Following the major progress achieved by cryo-electron microscopy in enabling "static" observation of biological protein macromolecular structures, high-precision scientific computing systems represented by Tianqiong are emerging as a new generation of "digital microscopes". Through simulation and modeling, these systems make it possible to explore the dynamic laws governing the microscopic world, providing critical support for the systematic evolution of scientific research paradigms.
The first Tianqiong prototype was delivered in 2022 and is now located on the campus of ShanghaiTech University. It is China's first 3D supercomputer based on an independently developed architecture and dedicated to AI4S. In benchmark tests, Tianqiong achieves 5–10 microseconds per day in molecular dynamics simulations, delivering performance two to four orders of magnitude faster than conventional domestic supercomputing systems. Its overall capability has reached the international advanced level, comparable to that of the second-generation Anton (Anton 2) supercomputer in the United States. In 2023, leveraging Tianqiong, the Changjiang 3D Scientific Computing Center, jointly developed by the Xiaogan Hi-tech Industry Development Zone in Hubei and Smart Logic, officially commenced operations, establishing the world's largest general-purpose 3D scientific computing cluster. Since its launch, the center has served over 200 leading research teams and innovation institutions worldwide, established in-depth scientific collaboration with universities, including Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, and Wuhan University, and offered computing and technical support to over 20 companies in fields such as biomedicine and new materials. Through computing-enabled services, it has also contributed to a series of major research projects of strategic importance to national development and public well-being.
Currently, Tianqiong has supported substantive progress in multiple areas of fundamental research, underpinning the publication of nearly 20 papers in top international journals and advancing several drugs to the preclinical trial stage. For autoimmune disease targets, Tianqiong's high-precision simulation computing has discovered new allosteric pockets and candidate drug molecules for the first time. These findings have entered the experimental validation phase and are expected to further advance a potential drug into clinical research, while also offering technical support for the incubation of emerging pharmaceutical companies.
Beyond supporting key stages of drug development, such as target discovery and molecular design, the application boundaries of the 3D scientific computer Tianqiong continue to expand. It will gradually support scientific research across multiple domains, including quantum chemistry and AI model training, providing powerful computational support for the advancement of China's fundamental sciences and technological innovation across fields. In sectors such as new materials, new energy, and high-end manufacturing, leading companies and teams will benefit from high-performance computing services delivering order-of-magnitude improvements in both scale and efficiency, thereby accelerating the exploration and formation of new AI4S research paradigms across diverse disciplines.
Smart Logic was founded in 2016 by a core team from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Headquartered in Shanghai Shibei Hi-Tech Park, the company has emerged as a benchmark enterprise within Jing'an District's science and technology innovation landscape. As a major player in Jing'an's data intelligence industry, the company holds multiple national and municipal qualifications, including designation as a national specialized and innovative "Little Giant" enterprise, a hi-tech enterprise, a municipal specialized and innovative enterprise, and a municipal enterprise technology center. Its strong capabilities have secured its position on the global unicorn list for several consecutive years, earning it recognition as a key unicorn enterprise in Shanghai. Leveraging hard-core technological breakthroughs, including its MaPU architecture chips, Smart Logic is deeply involved in building the regional science and technology innovation ecosystem, serving as a key engine for applying data intelligence and advancing industrial digital transformation.
Smart Logic stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it will leverage its independently developed innovative MaPU architecture as a strategic anchor to participate in shaping new scientific paradigms in the AI era, strengthen the foundations of innovation through hardcore technologies, and provide solid support for China's efforts to build itself into a global science and technology powerhouse.