TIANJIN -- A supercomputer capable of at least a billion billion calculations per second will enter service by 2020, head of the school of computing at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) said Wednesday.

According to the national plan for the next generation of high performance computers, China will develop an exascale computer during the 13th Five-Year-Plan period (2016-2020).

"The government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, NUDT and the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin are working on the project, and we plan to name it Tianhe-3," said Liao Xiangke, the school head.

In 2010, the country's first petaflop supercomputer Tianhe-1 capable of at least a million billion calculations per second came into service in the supercomputing center. At present, Tianhe-1 performs various tasks including oil exploration, high-end equipment manufacturing, biological medicine and animation design, and serves nearly 1,000 customers.