Zhaoxin is a developer of homegrown x86 processors from China, but apparently has ambitions beyond CPUs. The term Zhao xin means ‘million core’. According to a recent report by cnTechPost, the Chinese company teased a new low-cost 70W discrete GPU in a video posted on its newly overhauled website. The video has been taken down though, but cnTechPost grabbed a copy of the company’s roadmap, and it appears that Zhaoxin has plans to introduce a new 70W discrete GPU that will be fabbed using TSMC’s 28nm process. Zhaoxin said that this will fill a gap in China’s GPU space.
Now, this news might not seem that much relevant to some of you, but having another GPU competitor in the market space is always a welcome change for sure, despite Zhaoxin being a Chinese-based company.
As you know the number of discrete GPU vendors shrank to two by the late 2000s as a result of a tough competition between ATI Technologies (now part of AMD) and Nvidia. In 2017, Intel announced its comeback to the market of standalone discrete graphics cards, and according to recent reports Apple might also offer desktop-class graphics too. Now one more player is willing to join in the game, which appears to be Zhaoxin.
So if we only count AMD and Nvidia for the time being, Zhaoxin appears to be the third gaming/enterprise GPU competitor in the market, but sadly only for the Chinese/Asian market. Though as per one report, if the company manages to introduce a capable discrete GPU for China, then they might target other regions and countries as well. But nonetheless, a third/fourth GPU competitor is always a welcome change for sure, at least in my opinion.
Zhaoxin, is a joint venture between China-based Shanghai SASAC (that owns an 80% stake) and Taiwan-based Via Technologies (with a 20% stake), and the company has been selling ‘homegrown’ x86 processors exclusively for the Chinese market for several years now.
The company’s top high-end ‘KaiXian KX 6000’series of CPUs which feature eight in-house designed ‘LuJiaZui’ cores, and a dual-channel DDR4 memory controller are said to offer performance comparable to that of Intel’s 7th Generation Core i5, which is a quad core non Hyper-threaded processor. In the video recently posted on their website, Zhaoxin revealed that a new standalone graphics processor is in the works according to the company’s roadmap. Due to be released in late 2020 or in early 2021, the GPU will likely support a DirectX 11.1 or DirectX 12-level feature set, but we don’t know for sure. The chip will also have a TDP of up to 70 W, which seems high for laptops, but it is good enough for small form-factor PCs/OEM desktops (SFF).
This homegrown dGPU can also been seen as a development platform for ISVs. The dGPU is expected to derive from VIA’s S3 Graphics IP as VIA has collaborated with Zhaoxin as an iGPU provider for its KaiXian lineup of x86 SoCs.
If you are interested in the KaiXian KX 6000 series processor, then you can read the full review and testing done by Tom’s Hardware. The company’s use of the 28nm process node for the dGPU obviously seems a bit odd and lags the current industry norm, with vendors like AMD and Nvidia already moving on to TSMC’s 7nm tech node, but this move could be because of the recent ongoing US sanctions which prevents TSMC from providing 16nm and smaller processes to its own China customers.
As of now, it’s not very clear how Zhaoxin would be able to produce a discrete and a competitive GPU without infringing any graphics IP from AMD, Nvidia, or Intel. However, according to Tom’s hardware KaiXian review, Zhaoxin’s parent company VIA has access to a graphics IP from S3 graphics.
Given the 28nm process technology and a 70W TDP of this upcoming GPU, it is unlikely that Zhaoxin’s discrete homegrown graphics processor will be able to compete against the likes of AMD and Nvidia, at least on the high-end enterprise/gaming graphics card market.
Though, Zhaoxin has plans to conquer other markets as well, such as the high-performance computing sector. Zhaoxin also has integrated graphics units for its CPU platform, though the GPUs are embedded in the chipset. Zhaoxin’s existing iGPUs support DX11, OpenCL 1.1, and OpenGL 3.2 and features hardware-accelerated video encoding and decoding. The integrated graphics also support DisplayPort, eDP, HDMI and VGA interfaces and can simultaneously output to two screens at 4K resolution.
Based on the 70W TDP envelope, it’s conceivable that the new homegrown Chinese GPU will target SFF systems, and low cost OEM desktop PCs, thus giving China an alternative to produce its own graphics, and capture the market.
Via Technologies used to own a bunch of graphics patents it acquired with S3 Graphics in the early 2000s, but in 2011 the majority of those patents were sold to HTC, which happens to be controlled by the same person as Via Technologies.
Hello, my name is NICK Richardson. I’m an avid PC and tech fan since the good old days of RIVA TNT2, and 3DFX interactive “Voodoo” gaming cards. I love playing mostly First-person shooters, and I’m a die-hard fan of this FPS genre, since the good ‘old Doom and Wolfenstein days.
MUSIC has always been my passion/roots, but I started gaming “casually” when I was young on Nvidia’s GeForce3 series of cards. I’m by no means an avid or a hardcore gamer though, but I just love stuff related to the PC, Games, and technology in general. I’ve been involved with many indie Metal bands worldwide, and have helped them promote their albums in record labels. I’m a very broad-minded down to earth guy. MUSIC is my inner expression, and soul.
Contact: Email
as long as the intention is for “gaming” i don’t know if they can even succeed in their own chinese market. for office use? sure but definitely not gaming. and i count this even if they have the latest access of TSMC latest nodes. there are reasons why even more capable GPU maker decided not to compete for desktop GPU. (imagination technologies, qualcomm, ARM)
The article says they can’t have access to the latest node from TSMC though right now, unless the US-china sanction matter calms down.
28nm might be the starting point for this firm as per this report.
my point is even if they got the best node available to them they will not going to win in gaming market even in their on country.
if they aim for high end obviously not, but what makes you sure they cant make a cheap and good video card for their demand there? most gamers there dont play AAA games after all
Software. Even some commentors here mention that how china like to cut corners. When it comes to gaming software is very critical. That is the part that you can’t cut corners no matter what. It is also the reason why more credible GPU maker decided not to enter discrete gpu market on pc. Due to how games work on pc some issues cannot be fixed soley by game patch. In needs “fix” or adjustment from graphic drivers as well. I will give this as an example: imagination is one of the best mobile gpu maker. But why their gpu rarely being licenced by others despite their superiority? Because they most often neglect the software side of things. They just release the hardware it’s first driver and then never to care about fixing any issues after that. Only apple really use them but apple is very well know to manage and build their own drivers. They do that even for discrete gpu that meant to be used with their product.
I think you underestimate the capability’s of some of the companies, it will take time for sure but i would not be surprised if they get competitive even in the enthusiast space given enough time.
China have insane resources and the gov aren’t afraid so spend it on emerging tech and if it then pokes US in the eye the way US been poking China with embargos etc – They would see that as a boon.
“gaming” is not an emerging tech. read my comment once again: i said “as long as the intention is gaming”. outside from that china can succeed.
Throw billions of moneys at the problem and it might work.
if it was that simple true GPU player like Qualcomm probably already enter the market (they make more money than nvidia). truth to be told nvidia has created a unique situation on discrete GPU market where majority of hardware maker will hate to compete in. it is good from the perspective of consumer but for company that sells hardware they really hate it.
28nm process chip is gonna run a bit hot though.
This is hot garbage for sure
Metal Messiah – you should read this – one of best article about GPU i read last week:
UNIFIED MEMORY: THE FINAL PIECE OF THE GPU PROGRAMMING PUZZLE
https://www.nextplatform.com/2019/01/24/unified-memory-the-final-piece-of-the-gpu-programming-puzzle/
author:
Michael Wolfe has worked on languages and compilers for parallel computing since graduate school at the University of Illinois in the 1970s. Along the way, he co-founded Kuck and Associates (acquired by Intel), tried his hand in academia at the Oregon Graduate Institute (since merged with the Oregon Health and Sciences University), and worked on High Performance Fortran at PGI (acquired by STMicroelectronics and more recently by Nvidia). He now spends most of his time as the technical lead on a team that develops and improves the PGI compilers for highly parallel computing, and in particular for Nvidia GPU accelerators
Okay sure. I will give it a read.
Great website. I found it last week. A lot of nice articles. There are also second great article from Michael Wolfe about compilers: This is amazing that 50 years ago Cray company created compiler that teach developers how to write better parallel code. Current languages don’t don’t do that anymore
COMPILING HISTORY TO UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE
Quite interesting article ..thanks man.
The graphics IP thing might be troublesome for this Chinese firm imo.
We are still waiting for Intel to jump into the gpu bandwagon though, lol. I doubt even Intel can match the likes of AMD and NV when it comes to dGPUs, let alone this new Chinese vendor.
We need competition.
Not from them
I avoid Chinese manufactured products whenever possible. I wouldn’t even consider a GPU manufactured there. Here is an abbreviated list of some hazardous products from China:
Radioactive drywall
Toxic dog food
Dangerous sweets
Toxic toothpaste
Dangerous ginger
Carcinogenic fish
Tires that separate while driving
Lead based painted toys for small children
“I avoid Chinese manufactured products whenever possible”
So you’re an hermit who lives off of rainwater and wild berries?
Not sure how you made that mental leap but it’s irrelevant to me what you think of me.
Not only am I against Chinese businesses exporting cheap junk that is in too many cases hazardous but I am also against the Chinese Government for Human Rights Violations against their own citizens and for unfair trade practices with Western Countries.
You can roll over and take it or stand up to them using your wallet to fight back.
youre okay with the US invading the middle east and causing a mess that to this day still persists and caused millions of victims? plan condor in south america same thing to a lesser degree. those all ok? or we just handpick to feel good about ourselves?
Show me where I have ever supported these. I was never okay with the US invading the Middle East. I saw it correctly at the time for what it was. A tragic waste of USA soldiers lives and a huge waste of money.
Thousands of USA soldiers lost their lives fighting in useless wars to turn Middle Eastern countries into Democracies and 7 trillion USA dollars wasted.
Muslims don’t want Democracy. They never have and they never will.
I was for assassinating Bin Laden and other key members of Al Qaeda after 9/11 and ongoing assassinations of any religious fanatics that seriously threatened the USA but a full scale invasion was never necessary to accomplish that.
The wars were about oil and protecting Big Oil Companies ability to make hundreds of billions of dollars there.
You make assumptions about me without any idea of what I stand for.
you do not use dollars? you dont buy american things? if you have, then according to you youre supporting that (just like buying a video card is supporting the CCP according to you)
I think you are just skimming my comments or you would have seen me say that my GPU was manufactured at TSMC which is in Taiwan and my MSI card was made in Taiwan. Not every piece of hardware is manufactured in China but a lot of it is.
As I keep saying. I avoid Chinese manufactured products whenever possible.
What does using American dollars or buying American things have to do with invading Iraq?
man i thought it was very obvious but ill put it more clearly. you say you avoid chinese products whenever possible since you dont want to support the chinese government. my question is, do you try to avoid american products whenever possible since you dont want to support the US government as well?
“What does using American dollars or buying American things have to do with invading Iraq?” are you serious right now? cant see the relation between the two? youre supporting said government, just like you dont want to support the PRC and their “evil doings” but youre fine with supporting the US govt and their evil doings?
Your brain is fried to the point that you no longer see how this society is rotten edge to edge…….
at which point was i defending society or something? dont answer 4 days later with random bs plz..
I mean, how can you not just agree with this ???
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/29de5e1f57a1f5df9945824565c4af92bf50e13d412cde4139c8b5b746bcc714.jpg
cheap junk? sure. human right violations? every major player in the world is involved in them, the US more so than any other, hence my replies to him
Wow, 64K didn’t say anything about it, stop saying BULLSH*T
youre responding to about 10 paragraphs of replies kinda hard to know what “it” means
right here…
you’re that kind of person, who hijacks the question by turning it against the other with an irrelevant argument …
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7a2dc6bd0067fa97337feb0009a01b9dd01e4a6b34983c31eee01e5176cfb8d.jpg
irrelevant? hes applying double standards. hes okay with buying from the US but not from china. he also somehow thought buying from the US wasnt supporting those wars, but buying from china actually was supporting human right violations… again, double standards and he evidently cant see the big picture nor how narrow his vision of things was
Pretty sure he means that buy non Chinese product which is quality controlled by someone else.
Then you should consider not buying any computer related stuff, everything comes from there and it’s approved by pretty much every company and state
Not true at all.
WHEN IT IS POSSIBLE, we MUST avoid every chinese bullcrap like PLAGUE. Period. Fact. Yes they are making our PCB’s, chips, etc etc because they don’t care about saving environment, water and their own population, so they are able to produce electronic devices at ridiculous prices for these reasons…
I bet you people don’t even know that Apple iCrap is made @ Foxconn, a 60K people megafactory, where there was so much suicide, because of the terrible conditions, that they had to install anti-suicide nets around ALL THEIR FACTORIES ……….
I can continue with example for 10 days non-stop………..
And i bet you’re using a made in China device to write this comment, and maybe even wearing made in China shoes lol
Chinese are not the only responsible for this mess, western governments and companies are the first to push for these practices to save money and should be the first to be pointed, it’s like accusing the fire for burning a house while completely forget the guy who started it, the Chinese are just doing what they’re paid for. Hardware manufacturing has always been a graveyard for many populations, don’t forget the children miners in Africa.
You are comparing wrong products. This is an electronics good, not some toy or a home product. Sure I can agree some items from China suck, but in this case I doubt any company is going to release a Cheapo GPU with poor circuit for the market, which is going to blow up the next day. Nope.
I don’t care if this GPU is made in China, India, or even Pakistan. As long as well we have a new GPU vendor, we gamers should be thankful.
Btw, don’t residents of US, UK and Europe get products from china ? And yes I’m talking about computer accessories only, including GPUs.
But no matter where you live, if you check the GPU packaging box, it is clearly written on the back, “Made In China” I’ve hardly seen a GPU manufactured in Europe, Germany or even the UK/US. .
My intention about pointing out the hazardous products from China is that they cut too many corners to make products cheaply that are completely unsafe and cause deaths. In the case of the toxic pet food it caused the poisoning and deaths of thousands of pets in the USA alone.
In the case of the tires separating it was due to a simple cheap safeguard that the Chinese company stopped using to save pennies. People died from the resultant car wrecks.
In this day and age is there anyone on this planet that doesn’t know that lead based paint causes mental retardation and that little children tend to stick toys in their mouths? The Chinese manufacturer used it on small children’s toys anyway.
Over 60% of the recalls in the EU and the USA are Chinese manufactured products due to being unsafe .
My 2070 Super GPU was manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan. My MSI card was also manufactured in Taiwan.
The odds are that my Intel 7700k probably wasn’t manufactured in China as Intel has 6 wafer fabs. 3 in the USA, 1 in Ireland, 1 in Israel and only 1 in China.
It is a fact that no one can avoid buying some Chinese products but as I said I try to avoid it whenever possible.
I can’t agree more with you again and again!
Hey, how it feel to be surrounded by ignorance and hypocrisy everyday, it makes me personally very angry and want to beat them with my baseball bat ! Cheers
If you ever dealt with china you would they can manufacture anything you want and at any quality you want, and the problem is that most us/eu companies want cheap so they get cheap… and that cheap results in shortcuts.
Both sides are to blame really
Yeah, there’s truth here. But people must stop saying Americans blabla US blablabla… There’s some intelligent countries that want to stop to be part of the planned obsolescence, like half ot the European one…………. which are WAY ahead of the stinky Americunt
A M E N my friend ! And you forgot one of the worst:
Substitute breast milk for babies containing melamine.
When it’s possible, we MUST avoid everything from China like PLAGUE…
Here we are talking about CPU’s, which could very well contain a chip for spying people and other things…. F*ck this sh*thole country big time.
All those who disliked your comment are f*cking bunch of ignorant and hypocrit f*cktards
Trumo earth atack right now . Shm, Chinese people scares a lot government of the United States. https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2016/10/trump-heart-attack-hoax-2016.jpg
Trump is a narcissistic pompous twit.
But that has nothing to do with the problems caused by Chinese industry and the Chinese government.
What happened to Trump btw ?
It’s bogus. It’s a hoax that Trump had a heart attack.
There are some concerns about his health in general though.
haha and biden isn’t? stupid leftist fa**ot
pro-trump here ? MAGA??
His stupid and ignorant electorate is after dying from the Covid and that’s good for sure! These redneck PoS can perish.
their CPUs & GPUs might be a joke right now, but give it 5 years, with insane fund backing from Chinese government, they’ll be competing with the likes of AMD & Nvidia
Maybe in cpu. But gpu can be hard.
IDGAS about Chinese and their crap, in 5 years they will not even be able to see 2 feet ahead so their trash country will be even more polluted…
i’d love to see more from this newcomer.. i hope it will hit market, at least asian market..
Most likely going to be exclusive to china market. Venturing outside china they need to tackle a problem that even more “legit” gpu maker unwiling to address.
At the rate US gov keeps banning, enforcing and showing tech embargos as a show of strength – The Chinese only do what they have to… start cutting the ties with US tech industry as reliance in some cases have cause major issues for those companies.
Pure trash / hot garbage