China Microprocessor (MPU) Industry Overview
The Chinese microprocessor (MPU) market is significantly consolidated due to limited players in the market, which are even mostly global players. American firms dominate advanced chip design. The chips are mostly manufactured in China, but high initial investments are required to manufacture microprocessors. Some of the key players in the market are Intel, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, AMD, etc. Some recent development in the market includes:
- December 2022: Loongson started shipping its 3C5000 processor, which features 16 LA464 cores with LoongArch microarchitecture, up to 64MB of cache, and four 64-bit DDR4-3200 memory interfaces with ECC support. The Loongson 3D5000 combines two 3C5000 CPUs on a single piece of the substrate to create a 32-core processor with eight memory channels. The 32-core processor supports up to 4-way simultaneous multiprocessor configurations, allowing for the construction of a server with up to 128 cores.
- August 2022: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's largest chipmaker, is said to have made a significant breakthrough. SMIC's technology had advanced to a quasi-7 nm (nm) process, which could be a stepping stone to a true 7 nm process. SMIC's most advanced chip process node successfully manufactured in the past was 14 nm, though it has consistently made strong efforts to move toward an advanced process node (below 10 nm).
China Microprocessor (MPU) Market Leaders
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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc.
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Microchip Technology Inc.
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Intel Corporation
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Qualcomm Technologies Inc.
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Texas Instruments
- *Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order
