The High Performance Computer Research Center (its precedessor was National Research Center for Intelligent Computing Systems) was established in 1990. Its mission is to research and develop high performance computing systems with autonomous intellectual property rights, and to promote the use of high-performance computers and the development of the high-performance computing industry in China. The Center’s research activities involve with all aspects of high performance computing with a focus on high-performance computer architectures, system software, high-performance computer applications, and massive data processing.

Since its inception, the Center has successfully undertaken a series of key projects funded by the State and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has achieved a number of milestone accomplishments in the history of high-performance computing of China. Examples of its achievements include Dawning-1 SMP system, Dawning 1000 MPP system,　 Dawning 2000-I MPP system, 2000-II MPP system, Dawning 3000 Superserver and application system, Dawning series scalable parallel computer system, Dawning 5000A High-Efficiency Computer System, and Dawning 6000 petaflops High-Efficiency Computer System. Today, the Dawning series high-performance computers are deployed extensively across China and are used intensively in scientific research, education, industry, finance, government, and many others areas. Dawning Nebulae Supercomputer (a partition of Dawning 6000) was ranked the second fastest supercomputers in the world in the 35th TOP500 list released in June, 2010, which was the highest ranking ever achieved by a supercomputer made in China.