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8 core per die MIPS based processor at 1Ghz. Not much else to the article other than a "China doesn't need Intel/AMD theme".
by jws 16y ago
8 core per die MIPS based processor at 1Ghz.
Not much else to the article other than a "China doesn't need Intel/AMD theme".
- Retric 16y agoThis seems like a bad idea. Let’s assume it costs a few million to design this chip, well you can already buy a an i7 which has 4 cores runs at 3.06GHz costs about 250$ in bulk. That’s 4,000 CPU’s per million in development costs before they see a single CPU off the line. If they get something 20% better then they are looking at a few hundred thousand chips to break even. PS: They suggest that it’s going to be 30% slower than a 6 core chip which suggests it’s on par with a current generation chip 4core CPU.
- die_sekte 16y agoChina wants to be independent as far as computing goes. That is all.
- Retric 16y agoThere are plenty of reasons to build your own chip's. For example, NSA was doing so, and probably still does. But, it only worth it if your making something dramatically different than an x86 CPU. The problem is keeping up with Intel is a ridiculously expensive proposition. analysis showed Intel's R&D expenditures were $22.1 billion between 2001 and 2005 http://www.emsnow.com/newsarchives/archivedetails.cfm?ID=13632 http://www.emsnow.com/newsarchives/archivedetails.cfm?ID=136... Either staying a few generations behind and building more chips, or buying from the beast seems like the best option. PS: Intel does manufacturing in china (http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/06/intel-china-fab-to-use-65nm-process-produce-notebook-chips.ars http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/06/intel-china-fab...) so they already have access to slightly behind the time manufacturing technology.
- dcx 16y agoHmmm. Could this possibly be something to do with US supercomputer export controls? Don't know much about this but a quick google showed that the US has been tightening controls lately. I wonder what people are using supercomputers for in the military these days anyway - UAV? Crypto? I'm guessing ballistics is pretty well solved. And you hear the occasional story about suits showing up and requesting that labs disable-in-hardware the execution of Shor's algorithm on their quantum-related tech...
- caf 16y agoNuclear weapon R&D. That's how the 5 weapons states acknowledged by the NPT have been able to maintain the unofficial test moratorium - all the supercritical explosions are happening in simulation.
- barkingcat 16y agocost does not matter when it means you can have an independent processor family to control your nuclear missiles.