China-made chip takes super step
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Scientists unveiled China's first supercomputer using the third generation home-made processor, a machine capable of 1 trillion operations every second.
The computer named KD-60 was the latest product to use the Central Processor Unit Loongson-3A, or dragon chip, that was independently designed and made by China, People's Daily online reported yesterday.
Almost every computer in China has run on chips made by a United States-based company, most notably Intel and AMD.
The Loongson-3 was invented in September. The Loongson project was a government-funded project started in 2001, involving more than 200 researchers in the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Loongson project was designed to rid China of foreign dependence in the computer business. US law now prevents its companies from selling the most current microprocessors to China. Chinese users generally receive products a few generations old.
KD-60 was much smaller than its previous model, KD-50I, based on Loongson-2, which was the size of a household refrigerator. An unnamed expert with the Chinese Academy of Sciences told the newspaper that researchers expect to make the future model supercomputer even smaller and more accessible to personal users.
Loongson-3 was expected to compete with the big central processing unit makers. The chip has four CPU cores. An eight-core version is under development.
A major development in the third generation chip is that it can simulate Intel's x86 code, meaning users can run Windows operation systems and other popular software on it. Former Loongson computers could only use Linux or other open-source software.
Business insiders said the chip's developer was talking to Intel about paying for a license for x86 code.
The first generation Loongson, launched in 2002, was used in ready-made embedded systems such as set-top boxes.
The Loongson-2, released in 2005, was used in low-end personal computers. The product was largely ignored because of a low price-performance rate.
