When the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was founded in Beijing in 1956, it rented Building 3 of Xiyuan Hotel as a temporary residence for offices and laboratories. It moved to
Zhongguancun in February 1958. In the same year, the first general-purpose digital electronic computer of China, the 103, was successfully developed at the institute. Shortly after the founding of the Institute, in 1960, the
Sino-Soviet split forced Chinese computing to continue developing in isolation: the USSR recalled its technical advisers from the country.
Model 119 In 1964, ICT successfully produced China's first self-developed large
digital computer, the 119. The 119 was a core technology in facilitating China's first successful nuclear weapon test (
Project 596), also in 1964. Speed could reach 180 kiloflops. A visiting delegation of American computer scientists noted with astonishment that the country had succeeded in producing a third-generation computer with virtually no external assistance. In 1976, Model 013 debuted, with 48-bit architecture and 768K core memory. The 013 ran a FORTRAN compiler, a full OS, and "a BCY compiler for a Chinese designated programming language." The institute is the birthplace of China's first general-purpose CPU chip as well. It is also the R&D base of China's high-performance computers. ==Research==