AMD–Chinese joint venture

The AMD–Chinese joint venture is the agreement between the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and China-based partners to license and build x86 compatible CPUs for the Chinese-based market.[1][2] It is an attempt to reduce the Chinese dependence on foreign technology,[3][4] as well potentially a response to the 2018 trade war between the US and China.[1] It is similar to the Zhaoxin joint-venture supported by VIA Technologies.[5]

Structure

Due to legal restrictions AMD has set up multiple companies to allow licensing of x86 technology to China. The overarching joint venture is the Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. Ltd. (THATIC).[1] THATIC is owned by "AMD and both public and private Chinese companies, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences".[1] 2 further joint-venture have been set-up: (1) Haiguang Microelectronics Co. Ltd. (HMC), and (2) Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit Design Co., Ltd (Hygon).[1] AMD and THATIC own differing proportions of these companies. HMC owns the local intellectual property of the chip, and subcontracts the manufacturing of the chip.[1] Hygon designs the chip, and markets and sells the processors.[1]

History

The joint venture was announced by AMD in 2016.[1] The first processor was released in 2018.[1]

Microprocessors

The initial microprocessor created in 2018 is the Hygon Dhyana system on a chip.[1][2] It is noted to be a variant of the AMD EPYC, and is so similar that "there is little to no differentiation between the chips".[1] It has been noted that there is "less than 200 lines of new kernel code" for Linux kernel support, and that the Dhyana is "mostly a re-branded Zen CPU for the Chinese server market".[2]

See also

  • Zhaoxin – a similar joint venture to produce x86 processors between VIA Technologies and Chinese partners
  • EPYC – the AMD processors that the Hygon Dhyana is based on

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Alcorn, Paul (6 July 2018). "China Finds Zen: Begins Production Of x86 Processors Based On AMD's IP". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Larabel, Michael (9 June 2018). "Hygon Dhyana: Chinese x86 Server CPUs Based On AMD Zen". Phoronix. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Clark, Don (21 April 2016). "AMD to License Chip Technology to China Chip Venture". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 24 April 2018. The VIA/Shanghai Zhaoxin KX-5000 series of x86-compatible CPUs will never be sold outside of China to avoid an Intel lawsuit.","...will use the technology to develop chips for server systems to be sold only in China
  4. ↑ Wu, Yimian (23 May 2018). "China Supports Local Semiconductor Firms By Adding Them To Government Procurement List". China Money Network. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  5. ↑ Gallagher, Sean (9 July 2018). "China producing x86 chips nearly identical to AMD server processors". Ars Technica. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
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