4 ms·

Doesn't look like it. The Centaur is described as "a memory buffer chip designed by IBM for their POWER scale-up microprocessors" while VIA owned Centaur's webs

Doesn't look like it. The Centaur is described as "a memory buffer chip designed by IBM for their POWER scale-up microprocessors" while VIA owned Centaur's website seems to have gone from "tune in for a massive unveiling later this year" a few years ago to what looks like a promotional leaflet for student and internship programs. I guess they mostly do research stuff now and very unlikely to design stuff like this for IBM.

phonon 7y ago
Zhaoxin has taken over distribution (and possibly some of the development) of the Centaur designs. Centaur has over 100 employees listed on Linkedin, so I think they have been working quietly for many years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhaoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhaoxin https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core-i5-7400,39694.html https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core...
- rbanffy 7y ago
  I assume they are still an important player in the embedded x86 niche. When I worked on the Brazilian voting machines, we were using Via CPUS.
  - buran77 7y ago
    The problem is as far as anyone can tell they are living off the same designs they had a decade ago and not actually coming up with anything new. None of those designs are actually able to compete in any segment these days: not performance, not low power, not performance/W. Unless they can somehow be the absolute cheapest option and go for the segment where anything is good enough it's hard to see them make a living, let alone thrive and come up with something new.
- rasz 7y ago
  Those chips are vaporware, they dont exist "as I posted under https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20238207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20238207 you wont be able to buy them full stop. They are samples (if they ever existed at all). Afaik not a single device shipped with those CPUs ever. They are the product of: "National IC Investment Fund (called the "Big Fund") will mainly focus on three key sectors in the coming years, including memory, SiC/GaN compound semiconductor, and IC design with its application in IoT, 5G, AI, smart vehicles, etc." ~$75 billion by 2017 https://press.trendforce.com/node/view/3025.html https://press.trendforce.com/node/view/3025.html direct non-repayable cash money funds up for grabs to anyone showing something on paper." Look at this roadmap http://app.semi.org.cn/data/resource/Image/qq2(1).jpg http://app.semi.org.cn/data/resource/Image/qq2(1).jpg Do you remember that 4 core 2GHz Via cpu from 2015? or maybe that 4/8 core 2017 one? None of them ever existed.
- buran77 7y ago
  It looks like Centaur as such has very little left to offer except as a research and educational platform. They sold a design (Isaiah core) to a Chinese company so they can manufacture a very low performance x86 CPU as an alternative to Intel/AMD in case the US ever bans exporting this to China. But there's certainly nothing new coming out of Centaur or Zhaoxin except the rehashed versions of the CPU above. And that may not be enough for either since now China also has access to AMD's Zen core [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%E2%80%93Chinese_joint_venture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%E2%80%93Chinese_joint_vent...

phonon 7y ago

Zhaoxin has taken over distribution (and possibly some of the development) of the Centaur designs. Centaur has over 100 employees listed on Linkedin, so I think they have been working quietly for many years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhaoxin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhaoxin https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core-i5-7400,39694.html https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core...

rbanffy 7y ago
I assume they are still an important player in the embedded x86 niche. When I worked on the Brazilian voting machines, we were using Via CPUS.
- buran77 7y ago
  The problem is as far as anyone can tell they are living off the same designs they had a decade ago and not actually coming up with anything new. None of those designs are actually able to compete in any segment these days: not performance, not low power, not performance/W. Unless they can somehow be the absolute cheapest option and go for the segment where anything is good enough it's hard to see them make a living, let alone thrive and come up with something new.
rasz 7y ago
Those chips are vaporware, they dont exist "as I posted under https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20238207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20238207 you wont be able to buy them full stop. They are samples (if they ever existed at all). Afaik not a single device shipped with those CPUs ever. They are the product of: "National IC Investment Fund (called the "Big Fund") will mainly focus on three key sectors in the coming years, including memory, SiC/GaN compound semiconductor, and IC design with its application in IoT, 5G, AI, smart vehicles, etc." ~$75 billion by 2017 https://press.trendforce.com/node/view/3025.html https://press.trendforce.com/node/view/3025.html direct non-repayable cash money funds up for grabs to anyone showing something on paper." Look at this roadmap http://app.semi.org.cn/data/resource/Image/qq2(1).jpg http://app.semi.org.cn/data/resource/Image/qq2(1).jpg Do you remember that 4 core 2GHz Via cpu from 2015? or maybe that 4/8 core 2017 one? None of them ever existed.
buran77 7y ago
It looks like Centaur as such has very little left to offer except as a research and educational platform. They sold a design (Isaiah core) to a Chinese company so they can manufacture a very low performance x86 CPU as an alternative to Intel/AMD in case the US ever bans exporting this to China. But there's certainly nothing new coming out of Centaur or Zhaoxin except the rehashed versions of the CPU above. And that may not be enough for either since now China also has access to AMD's Zen core [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%E2%80%93Chinese_joint_venture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD%E2%80%93Chinese_joint_vent...