[photopress:godson_1.jpg,full,alignright]This is probably the most important computer news to come out of China since Lenovo took over the entire IBM PC line. China has begun manufacturing its latest home-grown microprocessor, which boasts speeds of 1GHz and could significantly lower the cost of basic and mid-level personal computers.
Already, in the United States, PCs have been sold for as low as $US100. If China ramps up production of computers using this chip, and it is absolutely certain it will, then the $100 PC may well become commonplace. The PC computer market will be turned on its head.
China Central Television reported that the chip, dubbed the Godson IIE, was produced by the Institute of Computer Technology under the state-run China Academy of Sciences. Li Guojie, director of the institute, told Xinhua that speeds of 1GHz mean that the 64-bit chip is capable of making 4.0 billion calculations per second. He said, ‘Its calculation capacity is twice as fast as the previous version.’
To move into the high performance sector it needs to be three times as fast again. But that will come. That is a question of modification and time. Not a major breakthrough.
What is immensely important is that China possesses the full intellectual property rights for the new chip.
It has been entirely developed by Chinese engineers. This is not a totally new chip because the first Godson II series came out last year (pictured above) but this new chip runs at a respectable speed for a basic computer and can run both Linux and Microsoft. The world of personal computers has changed for ever.