The twists and turns and breakthroughs in the development process of domestic CPUs
Once upon a time, China has been in a situation of passive beating in the field of CPUs. Due to its long-term dependence on imports, the problem of "lack of cores and souls" in the mainland's computer industry is very serious, which not only restricts the development of information technology, but also brings hidden dangers to national security. The changes in the situation in recent years have made the development of domestic CPUs have to accelerate.
With the overall deployment and strong support of the national strategy, the development of domestic CPUs has entered the fast lane. A large number of independent and controllable CPU products came into being, and the performance level has gradually kept up with the international advanced level. China has initially formed a situation of "six dynasties competing for hegemony" represented by Loongson, Shenwei, Haiguang, Feiteng, Kunpeng, Zhaoxin, etc., which adopt different instruction set structures and form a pattern of diversified development.
These domestic CPU products have their own focus on autonomy, controllability and applicable scenarios. Loongson CPU is completely independently developed and has an independent instruction set architecture, which is a "domestic core" in the true sense. Haiguang, Shenwei, etc., have adopted x86 architecture authorization, and their performance is relatively leading. Feiteng and Kunpeng are based on the ARM architecture and have been applied in mobile phones, servers and other fields.
The road to the development of domestic CPUs has not been smooth sailing. In addition to the technological lag caused by long-term dependence on imports, the lack of ecosystems is also a major challenge. At present, the domestic CPU ecosystem is still being built at an accelerated pace, and the operating system, compiler, application software and other links need to be improved.
With the strong support of the state and the perseverance of enterprises, the development of domestic CPUs is entering the fast lane. The latest generation of Loongson 3A6000, Haiguang 7A1800 and other products have caught up with the Intel Core series in performance, and the gap with foreign countries will be further narrowed. With the improvement of the ecosystem, domestic CPUs will be widely used in key fields, giving independent and controllable wings to the mainland's information security and industrial development.
The performance gap of domestic CPUs and the importance of independent controllability
Although domestic CPUs have made great progress, the performance gap still exists compared with the international leading level. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Instruction set architecture differences
At present, mainstream CPUs can be divided into three camps: x86, ARM and RISC-V. The domestic CPU mainly adopts Loongson's independent instruction set, x86 authorization architecture and ARM architecture. Processors with different instruction sets differ in computing power, power consumption control, parallel processing, and so on.
Compared with the x86 and ARM architectures, the Loongson instruction set still needs to be improved in terms of out-of-order execution, cache, multi-core interconnection and other technologies, and the performance will naturally lag behind. The domestic CPU using x86 and ARM authorized architecture, although it can catch up in performance, has a low degree of autonomy and control.
The process is backward
The process technology is a key factor in determining CPU performance. At present, the world's leading CPU products have entered advanced processes such as 5nm and 3nm, while most of the domestic CPUs are still at the relatively backward process level such as 14nm and 28nm.
Advanced manufacturing processes can not only increase transistor density, but also reduce power consumption and increase frequency, which has a significant impact on the computing power and energy efficiency ratio of CPUs. The gap between domestic CPUs in this regard is largely due to the overall backwardness of the mainland's chip manufacturing industry.
Ecosystem building is lagging behind
The CPU ecosystem includes operating systems, compilers, application software, and other links. Due to the long-term dependence on imports, the mainland CPU ecosystem is seriously lagging behind, which restricts the performance of domestic CPUs to a large extent.
Taking the operating system as an example, mainstream systems such as Windows and Linux are mainly optimized for the x86 architecture, while the support for independent architectures such as Loongson is relatively weak. The collaborative optimization of software and hardware is the key to improving CPU performance, and the lack of an ecosystem undoubtedly increases the challenge of domestic CPUs.
Still, autonomous controllable CPUs are strategically important:
Information security
In recent years, there have been frequent cybersecurity incidents, and the risk of malicious attacks and monitoring of information systems has increased day by day. The adoption of foreign CPUs will expose the mainland's information systems to potential "backdoor" risks. Only when it is independent and controllable can information security be fundamentally guaranteed.
Critical infrastructure assurance
In the field of critical infrastructure such as electricity, transportation, and finance, the use of domestic CPUs can effectively avoid the risk of foreign sanctions and ensure the normal operation of the system. This is of vital importance to safeguarding national security and social stability.
National strategic needs
CPU is the core of information technology and an important indicator of a country's scientific and technological strength. The development of an independent and controllable CPU industry is not only related to national security, but also the only way for the mainland to move from a manufacturing country to a manufacturing power.
The development prospects of domestic CPUs are broad, and joint efforts are made to create brilliance
Throughout the development process of domestic CPUs, although there are many twists and turns, they are ushering in a new dawn. The latest generation of Loongson 3A6000, Haiguang 7A1800 and other products have caught up with the Intel Core series in performance, and the gap with foreign countries will be further narrowed.
The performance of the latest products has been greatly improved
Loongson 3A6000 is a new generation of general-purpose processor based on the autonomous instruction set LoongArch, and its single-core performance has surpassed that of Intel Core i9-9900K, and the energy efficiency ratio has also been greatly improved.
Haiguang 7A1800 is a new product based on x86 architecture, and its single-core performance has surpassed that of Intel Core i7-8700K, and it has performed well in high-performance computing and big data processing.
In addition to general-purpose CPUs, domestic dedicated acceleration chips have also made great progress. For example, the NPU (neural network processor AI performance of the HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G chip has exceeded that of the Apple A13 by 2 times.
The advent of these latest products indicates that domestic CPUs are fully keeping up with or even surpassing the international advanced level.
The ecosystem is well-established
Ecosystem construction is the top priority in the development of domestic CPUs. In recent years, the mainland has increased investment in operating systems, compilers, application software, etc., and has made positive progress in ecosystem construction.
In terms of operating systems, domestic distributions such as UnionTech UOS and Galaxy Kirin have achieved in-depth optimization support for domestic CPUs such as Loongson and Feiteng.
In terms of compilers, domestic tool chains such as Loongson compiler and PLCT have become increasingly mature, which can efficiently support software development on domestic CPUs.
In terms of application software, key software such as domestic office suites, databases, and middleware are also accelerating the adaptation of domestic CPUs.
With the improvement of the ecosystem, the application scenarios of domestic CPUs will be greatly expanded, and there will be more room for performance.
The national strategy is promoted
The development of domestic CPUs is the only way for the mainland to move from a manufacturing country to a manufacturing power. In recent years, the state has issued a series of major strategic plans, pointing out the direction for the development of domestic CPUs.
The "National Outline for the Promotion of the Development of the Integrated Circuit Industry" clearly states that by 2030, the mainland will form a complete integrated circuit industry system, and realize the whole process from design to manufacturing, packaging and testing to be independent and controllable.
The "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" also lists "breakthrough in high-performance computing chip design" as one of the key tasks.
Under the overall deployment of the national strategy, the domestic CPU industry will receive strong support from policies and funds, and the development prospects are bright.
The development of domestic CPUs has gone through the most difficult period, and the future is promising. As long as we insist on independent innovation, improve the construction of the ecosystem, and persistently increase investment, we will surely make the "pearl" of domestic CPU shine and plug in independent and controllable wings for the mainland's information security and industrial development!