Loongson computer chip
Chinese researchers are preparing the first multicore versions of Godson, China’s first homegrown microprocessor, with four- and eight-core designs to be released in the coming months.
Zhiwei Xu, deputy directory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology said the four-core version of the Godson-3 should be available this year with the eight-core version planned for 2009.
Chinese PC manufacturer ZhongKe Menglan Electronics Technology began offering a low cost computer based on Godson to schools and governments in 2007. As yet they have not made it in a major way in mass-market products.
MIT, which is about prestigious as you can get, sees the new Godson-3, developed with government funding by more than 200 researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Computing Technology (ICT), as a distinct challenge to Intel.
Godson chips are manufactured in China by a Swiss company called ST Microelectronics and are available commercially under the brand name Loongson, meaning ‘dragon chip.’
Loongson chips already power some personal computers and servers on the Chinese market, which come with the Linux operating system and other open-source software.
Sourcea: EE Times and MIT Technology Review