Chinese researchers unveiled details of a general-purpose microprocessor with which they hope to give computing to the most ordinary people in China. The chip, code-named "Godson-3", was developed with government funding by more than 200 researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology (ICT). Analysts suggest this takes China one step closer technological independence.

These chips are being manufactured by ST Microelectronics and branded as "Loongson" meaning Dragon Chip. Predecessors of this chip have been manufactured since 2001 and with its advancement marks rapid propagation of the Linux platform and other open-source software. These PCs would make it to as many workplaces and schools as the Chinese government can take them to. It is noted that the Godson-3 that has four processing cores releases in 2009 with a design that is scalable. In fact an 8-core version is planned as well. These chips use the 65nm fabrication process, with the 4-core version rated to consume as low as 10W. An interesting bit on the machine architecture is that these chips aren't x86 per say, but the designers have added instruction sets to simulate an x86-like environment. With it they hope to run a broader range of software, Microsoft Windows included. Since its a simulated x86 environment, a license from Intel isn't required. Erik Metzger, a patent attorney at Intel, says that the chip will only perform at about 80% of the speed of an actual x86 chip.

Source: Technology Review