By Bill Gertz
U.S. national laboratories and several American universities that are engaged in Pentagon-funded research are using Chinese supercomputers in ways that endanger U.S. national security, according to a former Air Force intelligence analyst.
L.J. Eads, now a specialist on China security matters, uncovered the links in research from over 100 scientific studies between 2016 and 2024. The studies revealed that American researchers were using China’s TianHe-series supercomputers located in Tianjin and Guangzhou.
The systems are part of the Chinese national supercomputer center and were used in papers produced by researchers at Argonne, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories. The laboratories are involved in sensitive defense work, including nuclear weapons.
The supercomputer centers are linked to the People’s Liberation Army and other official Chinese ministries and institutes that are on the Commerce Department’s blacklist of foreign companies.
The systems “serve as critical infrastructure for the PLA and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in advancing military technology, hypersonic weapons and AI-driven defense capabilities,” Mr. Eads said.
The Guangzhou supercomputer, in particular, is a major military system that has been used to build hypersonic missiles, aerospace systems, satellite surveillance, cryptographic analysis and nuclear weapons.
The supercomputer in Tianjin has worked on PLA hypersonic propulsion systems, strategic war gaming and cyber warfare operations.
Other Chinese research using supercomputers has facilitated biomedical research and genetic analysis that could be used for weapons, and air and space research.
The systems are also engaged in work on quantum cryptography, electronic warfare simulations and counterspace operations that are key parts of Beijing’s civil-military fusion strategy.
According to Mr. Eads, 25 U.S. university research papers referenced the TianHe supercomputers and 77 papers from national laboratories involved Chinese supercomputers.
“The involvement of supercomputers known for their military affiliations in China raises significant security concerns about the inadvertent transfer of sensitive nuclear technologies,” Mr. Eads said.
In addition to the dangers of technology theft, the use of Chinese supercomputers by U.S. researchers also increases the risk of hacking and malicious code insertion by Chinese state-run cyber actors, Mr. Eads said.
The supercomputer use also undermines U.S. sanctions enforcement and export controls aimed at limiting China’s acquisition of advanced supercomputer know-how, he said.
