Research Report on 35 Domestic Processor Chip Manufacturers (CPU/GPU/FPGA)

Last year, the AspenCore analyst team compiled and released the Research Report on 30 Domestic Digital Chip Manufacturers, covering 30 representative domestic CPU, GPU, FPGA, and memory chip manufacturers. Over the past year, more companies with technical strength and growth potential have emerged in the domestic digital chip industry. We decided to categorize memory as a separate category and compile the Research and Analysis Report on 30 Domestic Memory and Main Control Chip Manufacturers. Based on the original digital chip report, we expanded the CPU, GPU, and FPGA manufacturer roster, compiling it into the Research Report on 35 Domestic Processor Chip Manufacturers (CPU/GPU/FPGA).

Domestic CPUs

Domestic CPU processors mainly target applications in PCs, servers, embedded systems, mobile phones and tablets, security monitoring, automotive, as well as video and multimedia processing. The AspenCore analyst team has compiled a list of 16 domestic CPU chip manufacturers, including:

• PC/Server CPUs: Beijing Loongson, Shanghai Zhaoxin, Electric Science ShenTai, Tianjin Feiteng, and Haiguang;

• Arm-based Server CPUs: Tianjin Feiteng, Huawei HiSilicon’s Kunpeng, and Alibaba Pingtouge’s Yitian;

• Mobile APs: HiSilicon Kirin and Unisoc Tiger;

• Tablet/Multimedia and Video Processing SoCs: Allwinner Technology, Rockchip, Beijing Junzheng, and Amlogic;

• Security/Video Processing SoCs: Guoke Micro and Zhongxing Micro;

• Embedded CPUs: Suzhou Guoxin;

POWER Architecture CPUs: HeXing Technology. Among these 16 domestic CPU chip companies, half are already publicly listed, with the latest IPOs on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board being Loongson Zhongke and Guoxin Technology, while Haiguang Information’s IPO has also been accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Support from the capital market will further promote the development of domestic CPUs in the fields of trustworthiness, industrial applications, and information security, and will also help CPU manufacturers enhance their R&D technical strength and build and expand their respective ecosystems.

The Loongson series CPUs from Loongson Zhongke include the “Loongson 1” small CPU for industry applications, the “Loongson 2” medium CPU for industrial control and terminal applications, and the “Loongson 3” large CPU for desktop and server applications. In 2021, Loongson Zhongke released a completely autonomous instruction set architecture — LoongArch, based on which the performance of the single-core Loongson 3A5000 was enhanced by 50%, and power consumption was reduced by 30%, showing a significant performance advantage compared to domestic CPU products.

Based on the open Loongson ecosystem, the company has established close cooperative relationships with board manufacturers, complete machine manufacturers, and basic software and application solution developers, providing downstream enterprises with various development boards and software and hardware modules based on Loongson processors. Loongson Zhongke can provide 32-bit, 64-bit single-core, multi-core, and processors of different quality levels, with the two major system software Loongnix and LoongOS adaptable to various application scenarios.

Suzhou Guoxin Technology, based on autonomous controllable embedded CPU technology, has designed and developed a series of autonomous chips and module products targeting three key application areas: information security, automotive electronics, and industrial control, edge computing, and network communication. The company provides eight series of over 40 CPU cores with independent intellectual property rights based on M*Core, PowerPC, and RISC V instruction sets, with a comparison of its main embedded CPU cores against Arm cores as follows:

Domestic GPUs

Compared to domestic CPUs, domestic GPUs developed later, and there are fewer manufacturers involved in GPU processor R&D, with the performance of domestic GPUs still far behind global leaders like NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel. However, in recent years, the unique advantages of GPUs in AI applications, combined with capital interest, have driven a startup boom in domestic GPUs. Companies like Biren Technology, Hantang Semiconductor, and Moore Threads have raised tens of billions in financing, attracting technical talent from international manufacturers like NVIDIA and AMD, which will also promote competition and development in the high-performance domestic GPU chip market segment.

The AspenCore analyst team has compiled a list of 9 domestic GPU chip manufacturers, including:

• Graphics Processing/Rendering GPUs: Jingjia Micro, Xindong Technology, Xintong Semiconductor, Moore Threads;

• General-purpose Computing GPUs: Tianxu Zhixin, Denglin Technology, Moore Threads, Biren Technology;

• AI Acceleration GPUs: Tianxu Zhixin, Hantang Semiconductor, Biren Technology, Muxi Integrated Circuit;

Among these 9 domestic GPU manufacturers, only Jingjia Micro is a publicly listed company, while Xindong Technology has years of custom chip design experience. The remaining companies are all startups but have received considerable venture capital (with cumulative financing amounts exceeding 2 billion for Moore Threads, Biren Technology, and Hantang Semiconductor).

Xindong Technology’s “Fenghua 1” GPU, released at the end of 2021, uses a 12nm process, supports GDDR6/GDDR6X (maximum rate of 19Gbps), with capacity options of 4GB/8GB/16GB, supports HDMI2.1/DP1.4/VGA multiple independent outputs, and supports X86, ARM, Loongson, and other instruction sets; it is compatible with operating systems such as Linux, Android, Kirin, and Tongxin UOS; and supports server platforms such as Kunpeng and Ampere. “Fenghua 1” is available in two versions: A and B, with specific performance indicators shown in the following image.

Tianxu Zhixin’s 7nm General-purpose Parallel (GPGPU) cloud training chip BI was successfully “lit up” in December 2020. Based on this fully self-developed general-purpose computing GPGPU chip, Tianxu Zhixin’s hardware products focus on cloud training and inference, releasing powerful programmability and application universality through self-developed instruction sets, providing industry-leading AI computing density and energy efficiency. It features a hardware and software architecture designed for cloud AI training and HPC general computing; supports various precision data types including floating-point and fixed-point; and offers ultra-high bandwidth local storage and inter-chip interconnect expansion. Tianxu Zhixin can support general computer vision-related network models such as ResNet, Vgg, Inception, Alexnet, SSD, and Mask R-CNN; provides an ecosystem-compatible software suite; and supports multiple precision data type standards & mixed training, as well as model depth optimization.

Domestic FPGAs

Recently, Xilinx was successfully acquired by AMD, which means that FPGAs are unlikely to become a large-scale independent market and can only serve as a specialized processing method in high-performance computing. However, in the fields of 5G, industrial control, and specialized applications, FPGAs still have advantages that CPUs/GPUs/AI chips cannot replace. The overall technical strength of domestic FPGA manufacturers still lags behind international manufacturers like Intel and Xilinx, but several domestic manufacturers have already appeared in the mid-to-low performance FPGA market.

The AspenCore analyst team has compiled a list of 11 domestic FPGA manufacturers, among which Anlu Technology, Unisoc Guowei, and Fudan Microelectronics are publicly listed companies, even though the FPGA business does not account for a significant portion of total revenue in Unisoc Guowei and Fudan Microelectronics. In addition to traditional FPGAs, some manufacturers have developed specific application software and hardware processing solutions based on FPGAs. For example, Yiling Technology’s FPGA based on Quantum technology achieves up to 4 times optimization of “power consumption-performance-area” (PPA), and its unique design architecture can easily scale to over a million logic element (LE) densities, with its automotive-grade 16nm FPGA targeting applications in autonomous driving, smart cockpits, and electrification in new energy vehicles.

Lianjie Technology has developed FPGA-based heterogeneous computing solutions for data center image and video processing, which can enhance performance and efficiency by an order of magnitude, and has obtained patents in the US and China. Lianjie Technology’s high-throughput, low-latency FPGA image processing acceleration technology solutions have been widely applied in markets such as smartphone cloud applications, cloud storage, and online video websites.

Recently listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, Anlu Technology has developed the first generation of FPGA architecture PHOENIX, which supports up to 600K logic array capacity, and is currently developing the second generation of FPGA architecture PHOENIX2, which supports over 1KK logic capacity and has good array scalability. In terms of system integration, the company is building the next generation of FPSoC chips from both low power and high performance directions based on the first generation of low-capacity FPSoC chips, integrating CPUs, FPGAs, and dedicated data processing modules to meet future market trends.

In terms of dedicated EDA software, Anlu Technology’s TangDynasty (TD) software is an independently developed FPGA integrated development environment that supports industry-standard design inputs, includes a complete circuit optimization process, and provides rich analysis and debugging tools, along with a good third-party design verification tool interface, providing strong support for application designs based on Anlu Technology’s FPGA products. Furthermore, Anlu Technology will upgrade the core algorithms of the software for the PHOENIX2 architecture, targeting the development of system-level software compilation tools for FPSoC chips, effectively supporting a rich product line for hardware products.

Detailed Information on 35 Domestic Processor Chip Manufacturers

Below, we will showcase these 35 companies one by one from the aspects of core technology, main products, target markets, and competitiveness.

Electric Science ShenTai

• Core Technology: Shenwei autonomous instruction set and processor architecture

• Main Products: 32-core high-performance server processor Shenwei 3231, 8-core desktop processor 831, and embedded processor TH-1

• Key Applications: Big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, information technology, and key industries

• Competitiveness: Establishing the Shenwei Industrial Development Alliance to create a mature software and hardware ecosystem for Shenwei processors, integrating the entire process from R&D to ecosystem to industrial chain, forming a fully industrial layout centered around Shenwei processors.

Suzhou Guoxin

• Core Technology: Autonomous controllable embedded CPU microarchitecture design technology

• Main Products: Embedded CPUs, embedded CPU core C*Core, information security chips, automotive-grade safety chips

• Key Applications: Information security, automotive electronics, industrial control, edge computing, and network communication

• Competitiveness: The company’s main products and services are based on autonomous controllable embedded CPU technology, providing customers with IP licensing, chip customization services, and autonomous chip and module products to meet customer needs for autonomy and controllability, as well as differentiated requirements for high performance, low power consumption, and low cost.

HeXing Technology

• Core Technology: IBM POWER architecture server CPU design

• Main Products: Server CPUs, server systems, IP, and design services

• Key Applications: Database, memory computing, virtualization, and other server application markets

Pingtouge Semiconductor

• Core Technology: Processor design based on ArmV9 architecture

• Main Products: Arm server chip Yitian 710, XuanTie processor IP

• Key Applications: Cloud computing, data centers

• Competitiveness: Relying on the Alibaba Cloud computing platform, the self-developed Arm server CPU based on Armv9 architecture has a SPECrate 2017 Integer score exceeding 440.

Biren Technology

• Core Technology: Self-developed GPU chip architecture

• Main Products: BR100 GPU

• Key Applications: Smart cities, public cloud, big data analysis, autonomous driving, healthcare, life sciences, cloud gaming, and other fields.

• Competitiveness: Cumulative financing exceeds 4.7 billion yuan, delivering the general-purpose GPU — BR100 with high computing power, high versatility, and high energy efficiency advantages, completely relying on Biren Technology’s self-developed chip architecture, integrating many of the industry’s latest chip design, manufacturing, and packaging technologies.

Hantang Semiconductor

• Core Technology: Cloud inference DSA architecture, video processing technology

• Main Products: SV100 series AI chips and AI inference cards, GPU chips

• Key Applications: Cloud and edge AI inference applications, AI applications based on video

• Competitiveness: After completing 500 million A+ round financing, it has also completed 1.6 billion B-1 and B-2 rounds of financing, and has released the SV100 series products, with graphics GPU products under development. The cloud inference DSA architecture chip outperforms GPUs and is starting to be used in the internet video processing field.

Moore Threads

• Core Technology: 3D graphics computing and high-performance parallel computing technology

• Main Products: Fully functional GPU with built-in 3D graphics computing core, AI training and inference computing core, high-performance parallel computing core, ultra-high-definition video codec computing core

• Key Applications: Digital twins, industrial simulation, digital cultural creation, smart energy, smart cities, smart healthcare, autonomous driving, robotics, digital humans, biological computing, and other key areas of digital economic development.

• Competitiveness: Completed 2 billion A round financing, has a complete design team for modern full-featured GPU architecture, and has established partnerships with hundreds of ecosystem partners to jointly promote the joint development, performance optimization, and application innovation of domestic GPU application software.

Xintong Semiconductor

• Core Technology: Industry-leading unified rendering GPU architecture with highly scalable interconnect structure and computing array

• Main Products: GenBu01 GPU

• Key Applications: Embedded computer products, Xinchuang office PCs, cloud gaming

• Competitiveness: Meets the 2D display and 3D rendering needs of domestic operating systems, and has completed adaptation with domestic ecosystem manufacturers such as Feiteng, Loongson, Tongxin, Kirin, and Kunlun BIOS.

Denglin Technology

• Core Technology: GPU+ (software-defined on-chip heterogeneous architecture system)

• Main Products: Goldwasser (innovative AI computing accelerator based on GPU+)

• Key Applications: High-performance AI computing, smart cities, smart security, the internet, and other fields

• Competitiveness: Breaks through traditional GPU architecture through software-defined on-chip heterogeneous systems, while directly compatible with mainstream ecosystems such as CUDA, greatly enhancing the computing density and efficiency of AI computing, maximizing hardware performance and energy efficiency.

Lianjie Technology

• Core Technology: FPGA-based high-performance image processing acceleration technology

• Main Products: CTAccel Image Processor (CIP) accelerator

• Key Applications: Cloud-based image and video processing

• Competitiveness: Develops FPGA-based heterogeneous computing solutions for data center image video and multimedia, which can enhance performance and efficiency by an order of magnitude, and has obtained patents in the US and China. Lianjie Technology’s high-throughput, low-latency FPGA image processing acceleration technology solutions have been widely applied in markets such as smartphone cloud applications, cloud storage, and online video websites.

Zhongsiyihai

• Core Technology: “Array Scale/Computing Resource User Custom” compilation technology

• Main Products: FPGA chips, embedded programmable circuit IP cores, Yiling Technology design suite eLinx 2.0

• Key Applications: Data analysis, signal processing, image compression and recovery, terminal control, information transfer, and other applications

• Competitiveness: As a research and industrialization team in the field of “Programmable Logic Chips and Systems” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, they adhere to a fully forward design technology route, developing highly reliable embedded programmable circuit IP cores, programmable logic chips, and EDA software, achieving comprehensive autonomy and controllability of programmable logic chips’ hardware and software.

Yiling Technology

• Core Technology: Quantum technology (including programmable logic, routing structure, memory, and multipliers)

• Main Products: Trion FPGA, Titanium series FPGA, Efinity IDE

• Key Applications: Video processing, industrial control, medical, mobile, IoT, consumer electronics, as well as machine vision, computing acceleration, edge computing, and deep learning.

• Competitiveness: Compared to traditional FPGAs, the FPGA based on Quantum technology achieves up to 4 times optimization of “power consumption-performance-area” (PPA), and its unique design architecture can easily scale to over a million logic element (LE) densities. The automotive-grade 16nm FPGA targets applications in autonomous driving, smart cockpits, and electrification in new energy vehicles.

Fudan Microelectronics

• Core Technology: Embedded programmable PSoC technology

• Main Products: Ten million gate FPGA chips, one hundred million gate FPGA chips, embedded programmable devices PSoC

• Key Applications: 5G communications, signal processing, image processing, industrial control, and other applications

• Competitiveness: Fudan Micro’s Qinglong series embedded programmable PSoC products use 28nm process technology, embedding large-capacity self-owned eFPGA modules, and are equipped with APU and multiple AI acceleration engines.

Loongson Technology

• Core Technology: MIPS licensed architecture CPU and ecosystem, cross-instruction compatible binary translation technology.

• Main Products: “Loongson 1” small CPU for industry applications; “Loongson 2” medium CPU for industrial control and terminal applications; and “Loongson 3” large CPU for desktop and server applications.

• Application Areas: Network security, office and information technology, industrial control, and the Internet of Things, widely used in government, energy, finance, transportation, and education sectors.

Tianjin Feiteng

• Core Technology: Self-developed ARMv8 architecture processor, on-chip parallel system (PSoC) architecture.

• Main Products: High-performance server CPUs (Tengyun S series); high-efficiency desktop CPUs (Tengrui D series); high-end embedded CPUs (Tenglong E series).

• Application Areas: Domestic government affairs, equipment manufacturing, cloud computing, big data, as well as information systems in industries such as finance, energy, and rail transportation.

Haiguang Information

• Core Technology: AMD licensed X86 instruction set architecture, “Zen” x86 CPU

• Main Products: 7000 series, 5000 series, and 3000 series processors.

• Application Areas: Government agencies and commercial server applications.

Zhaoxin

• Core Technology: CPU, GPU, chipset core technology.

• Main Products: “Kaixian”, “Kaisheng” two major CPU series.

• Application Areas: Party and government offices, finance, education, healthcare, transportation, network security, energy, and other industries.

Huawei HiSilicon

• Core Technology: ARM v8 architecture licensing, Da Vinci architecture NPU

• Main Products: Kunpeng 920, Kirin series application processors, Ascend AI chips.

• Application Areas: Servers, mobile phones, smart terminals.

Unisoc

• Core Technology: 5G communications, AI platform

• Main Products: Tiger T7520/T7510/T710 series mobile application processors, W517/307 series smart wearable processors, Spring Ivy series IoT chips.

• Application Solutions: 5G, AIoT, smart voice, smart wearables, tablets, industrial Internet

• Target Market: Mobile phones, wearable devices, industrial IoT, automotive electronics, power electronics.

Rockchip

• Core Technology: ARM core high-performance application processors, smart voice

• Main Products: RK35 series, RK33 series, RK32 series, RK31 series, RK30 series, RK18 series, RK MCU series, RK Power series, RV11 series.

• Application Solutions: Tablets, streaming media applications, commercial and industrial applications, home applications, intelligent Internet applications, visual applications, automotive applications.

• Target Market: Smart hardware, mobile peripherals, tablets, TV set-top boxes, industrial control, and other fields.

Beijing Junzheng

• Core Technology: XBurst series CPU Core (based on MIPS instruction set), Helix/Radix series VPU, Tiziano image processor, Junzheng AIE computing engine, ISSI storage technology

• Main Products: X2000, X1000/E, X1520, X1500, X1021 series microprocessors; T40, T31, T21, T30, T20 series intelligent video processors; ISSI/Lumissil memory.

• Application Solutions: Smart audio, image recognition, smart appliances, smart homes, smart offices, smart video.

• Target Market: Biometric recognition, educational electronics, multimedia players, e-books, tablets, AIoT, and computing and communication storage markets.

Allwinner Technology

• Core Technology: Intelligent application processor SoC, ultra-high-definition video encoding and decoding, high-performance CPU/GPU/AI multi-core integration;

• Main Products: A series tablet application processors, F series multimedia processors, H series set-top box OTT processors, R series smart voice chips, T series automotive-grade cockpit infotainment processors, V series video encoding and decoding processors, MR series processors.

• Application Solutions: Smart hardware, consumer electronics, industrial control, home entertainment, vehicle networking solutions;

• Target Market: Smart hardware, tablets, smart appliances, vehicle networking, robotics, virtual reality, network set-top boxes, as well as power, wireless communication modules, and smart IoT products.

Jingjia Micro

• Core Technology: GPU supporting domestic CPUs and domestic operating systems

• Main Products: JM5400, JM7200/7201 graphics processors

• Application Market: Laptops, all-in-one computers, mobile workstations, blade motherboards, and other desktop office and industrial control fields.

Tianxu Zhixin

• Core Technology: Fully self-developed general-purpose computing GPGPU

• Main Products: 7nm GPGPU high-end self-developed cloud training chip

• Target Market: Computer vision, intelligent voice, intelligent recommendation, and other AI fields; HPC general computing.

Xindong Technology

• Core Technology: GDDR6 high-bandwidth video memory technology, HDMI2.1 technology for 4K/8K displays, domestically developed standard INNOLINK Chiplet and HBM2E high-performance computing platform technology

• Main Products: Intelligent rendering GPU graphics processors; high-speed 32Gbps SerDes Memory; high-performance computing/high-bandwidth storage/encryption computing/AI cloud computing/low-power IoT chips.

• Application Market: High-performance computing/multimedia & automotive electronics/IoT fields; Xinchuang desktop rendering, 5G data centers, cloud gaming, cloud office, cloud education, and other mainstream new infrastructure fields.

Gaoyun Semiconductor

• Core Technology: GoAI machine learning platform, Bluetooth FPGA system-level chip

• Main Products: Chenxi family GW2A series FPGA, Little Bee family GW1N series SoC

• Application Market: Communications, industrial control, LED display, automotive electronics, consumer electronics, AI, data centers.

Shanghai Anlu

• Core Technology: Full-process TD software system

• Main Products: High-end PHOENIX (Phoenix), mid-range EAGLE (Eagle), low-end ELF (Elf) series FPGAs.

• Application Solutions: LED displays, industrial automation, communication control, MIPI and TCON displays, etc.

Unisoc Guowei

• Core Technology: Pango Design Suite FPGA development software technology, embedded FLASH, high-security encryption, embedded ECC.

• Main Products: Titan series FPGAs, Logos series FPGAs, Compact series CPLDs; smart cards and smart terminal security chips; semiconductor power devices; ultra-stable crystal frequency devices; 5G super SIM cards.

• Application Solutions: Mobile communications, financial payments, digital government, public utilities, IoT and smart living, smart automobiles, electronic devices, power and power management, artificial intelligence.

• Target Market: Finance, telecommunications, government affairs, automotive, industrial interconnection, IoT, and other fields.

Jingwei Qili

• Core Technology: AiPGA chip (AI in FPGA), heterogeneous (MCU) edge computing

• Main Products: CPLD, FPGA, MCU-SoC, AI ASIC, MCU.

• Target Market: Consumer electronics, industrial, and AIoT.

Chengdu Huawai Electronics

• Core Technology: Programmable logic devices CPLD, FPGA hardware design platform, programmable logic device synthesis, mapping and programming algorithm software technology.

• Main Products: Digital-analog mixed signal chips, programmable logic devices, ADC/DAC, analog circuits, and interface circuit series products.

• Application Market: Industrial control, communication, and security.

Aoge Chip

• Core Technology: Programmable SoC, heterogeneous (MCU) edge computing

• Main Products: CPLD, FPGA, MCU-SoC, AI ASIC, MCU.

• Target Market: Consumer electronics, industrial, and AIoT.

Amlogic

• Core Technology: Ultra-high-definition multimedia encoding and decoding and display processing, artificial intelligence, content security protection, core hardware, and software technologies

• Main Products: Multimedia SoC chips

• Application Solutions: IP/OTT/DVB set-top box solutions, smart TVs, smart imaging, smart home, smart commercial display.

• Target Market: Smart set-top boxes, smart TVs, and AI audio-video system terminals, as well as IPC and other consumer security markets, automotive electronics markets for in-car entertainment and assisted driving.

Guoke Micro

• Core Technology: Fully self-developed solid-state drive control chips, wireless data communication core technologies, AVS2 ultra-high-definition intelligent 4K decoding chips

• Main Products: Live satellite HD chips, intelligent 4K decoding chips, H.264/H.265 HD security chips, high-end solid-state storage master control chips, Beidou navigation positioning chips.

• Application Solutions: Smart set-top boxes, intelligent monitoring, storage control, IoT

• Target Market: Satellite broadcasting, wireless communication, storage and information security, IoT application areas.

Zhongxing Micro

• Core Technology: Organizing and formulating security prevention video security digital audio-video encoding (SVAC) national standards, structured video coding streams, “data-driven parallel computing” architecture

• Main Products: “Star光” digital multimedia chip, integrated neural network processor (NPU) SVAC video encoding SoC, SVAC video security camera chip, H.264 decompression chip, PC camera chip

• Target Market: Information security, image coding, and video security fields.