Chinese chipmaker Montage Technology has unveiled new data center processors under its Jintide brand based on Intel's latest Emerald Rapids Xeon architecture. The 5th generation Jintide lineup offers anywhere from 16-core to 48-core options for enterprise customers needing advanced security specific to China's government and enterprise requirements. Leveraging a long-running joint venture with Intel, Jintide combines standard high-performance Xeon microarchitectures with added on-die monitoring and encryption blocks, PrC (Pre-check) and DSC (Dynamic Security Check), which are security-hardened for sensitive Chinese use cases. The processors retain all core performance attributes of Intel's vanilla offerings thanks to IP access, only with extra protections mandated by national security interests. While missing the very highest core counts, the new Jintide chips otherwise deliver similar Emerald Rapids features like 8-channel DDR5-5600 memory, 80 lanes of speedy PCIe 5.0, and elevated clock speeds over 4.0 GHz at peak. The Jintide processors have 2S scaling, which allows for dual-socket systems with up to 96 cores and 192 threads.

Pricing remains unpublished but likely carries a premium over Intel list prices thanks to the localized security customization required. However, with Jintide uniquely meeting strict Chinese government and data regulations, cost becomes secondary for target customers needing compliant data center hardware. After matching lockstep with Intel's last several leading Xeon generations, Jintide's continued iteration highlights its strategic value in enabling high-performance domestic infrastructure as China eyes IT supply chain autonomy. Intel gets expanded access to the growing Chinese server market, while Chinese partners utilize Intel IP to strengthen localized offerings without foreign dependency. It manifests the delicate balance of advanced chip joint ventures between global tech giants and rising challengers. More details about the SKUs are listed in the table below.

AAEON, an industry-leading provider of embedded solutions, has announced the latest addition to its 3.5" SubCompact Board product line, the GENE-EHL7. Available in models featuring Intel Atom x6000E series, Pentium, and Celeron N and J series Processors, the GENE-EHL7 is designed to offer a power-efficient platform with which to bring smart retail, smart city, industrial automation solutions to market in a compact, easily deployed board.

Offering a low-cost lifecycle via its efficient processor selection, the board is available with Intel Atom x6413E, Intel Celeron Processor J6412, or Intel Celeron Processor N6210 embedded CPUs, which grant users low-cost, yet highly efficient processing suitable to a variety of vertical market deployments. Providing three configurable simultaneous displays via HDMI, DP, LDVS, and eDP, AAEON have placed emphasis on the board's potential for deployment in point-of-sale (POS) and kiosk equipment, where its compact form factor and flexible display interfaces can be used to develop applications that are friendly to end-users. Adding further value to the board's use for such purposes is its optional TPM 2.0, which enhances security, critical for protecting data while in transit.

Last week at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, the world's top-three semiconductor foundries, TSMC, Intel (Intel Foundry Services or IFS), and Samsung Electronics, demonstrated their respective approaches to an evolutionary new transistor device called the CFET, or complementary field-effect transistors. A CFET is a kind of 3-D transistor that stacks both kinds of FETs needed for CMOS logic. All three fabs are transitioning from FinFET to nanosheets, or GAAFETs (gates all-around FETs).

While FinFETs use vertical silicon fins, with gates controlling the flow of current through them; while in a nanosheet, the vertical fin is cut into a set of ribbons, each surrounded by the gate. A CFET is essentially a taller nanosheet device in which uses half of the available ribbons for one device, and the other half for another. This device builds the two types of transistor, nFETs and pFETs on top of each other, in an integrated process. CFETs are the evolutionary next step to conventional GAAFETs, and it's predicted to enter mass production only 7-10 years from now. By that time, the industry will begin to feel the pushback from technological barriers preventing development beyond 10 angstrom-class nodes.

ASUS today announced the all-new Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405), a premium ultraportable laptop. The sleek Zenbook 14 OLED is the ultimate Intel Evo Edition ultraportable laptop that takes sophistication to a whole new level. Users can seize every moment using the enhanced, extended-life 75 Wh battery, amplify their efficiency with up to the top-tier Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and Intel Arc graphics, and achieve seamless connectivity via all the essential I/O ports—including two Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, HDMI 2.1 (TMDS) and a 3.5 mm audio jack.

An immersive audiovisual experience is provided by the vivid 3K ASUS Lumina OLED 120 Hz touchscreen and powerful new super-linear speakers, and the user-friendly design incorporates convenient face login, an FHD IR camera with a physical shutter for privacy, and a new quiet ASUS ErgoSense keyboard. The new design offers improved sustainability with the extensive use of recycled materials for the laptop and its packaging, and US military-grade durability testing maximizes the device's service life.

With both NVIDIA and AMD having the ability to nearly double frame-rates in games using frame generation technologies such as DLSS 3 and FSR 3, Intel Graphics couldn't be too far behind. The company is taking a significantly different approach than the other two GPU makers. In a research paper titled "ExtraSS Framework Details Intel's Take on Frame Generation," Intel provides an overview of how ExtraSS works, and its obvious advantage over DLSS 3 and FSR 3—latency.

ExtraSS is a technology that relies on frame extrapolation, instead of interpolation on FSR 3 and DLSS 3. In interpolation, the software uses past- and future frames to guess an in-between frame, using motion vectors and temporal data. This adds latency, which is why NVIDIA and AMD rely on technologies such as Reflex and Anti-Lag+ to mitigate it. There's no such technological problem to solve with ExtraSS. On the other hand, generating frames entirely using past frames (i.e. extrapolation in the literal sense of the word), can result in artifacts and ghosting. Intel intends to solve this using a new warping method, and AI. ExtraSS should come in particularly handy as Intel is betting big on giving its processors powerful iGPUs, such as the Xe-LPG powering the Core Ultra "Meteor Lake," while its Arc "Alchemist" GPUs remain a generation older than what NVIDIA and AMD have in the dGPU market. Intel hopes to launch its next-generation "Battlemage" discrete GPUs in 2024.

Yesterday, Intel unveiled its latest Xeon data center processors, codenamed Emerald Rapids, delivering the new Xeon Platinum 8592+ flagship SKU with 64 cores and 128 threads. Packed into its fresh silicon, Intel promises boosted performance and reduced power hunger. The comprehensive tech benchmarking website Phoronix essentially confirms Intel's pitch. Testing production servers running the new 8592+ showed solid gains over prior Intel models, let alone older generations still commonplace in data centers. On average, upgrading to the 8592+ increased single-socket server performance by around 23.5% compared to the previous generation configs of Sapphire Rapid, Xeon Platinum 8490H. The dual-socket configuration records a 17% boost in performance.

However, Intel is not in the data center market by itself. AMD's 64-core offering that Xeon Platinum 8592+ is competing with is AMD EPYC 9554. The Emerald Rapids chip is faster by about 2.3%. However, AMD's lineup doesn't stop at only 64 cores. AMD's Genoa and Genoa-X with 3D V-cache top out at 96 cores, while Bergamo goes up to 128 cores. On the power consumption front, the Xeon Platinum 8592+ was pulling about 289 Watts compared to the Xeon Platinum 8490H average of 306 Watts. At peak, the Xeon Platinum 8592+ CPU managed to hit 434 Watts compared to the Xeon Platinum 8490H peak of 469 Watts. This aligns with Intel's claims of enhanced efficiency. However, compared to the 64-core counterpart from AMD, the EPYC 9554 had an average power consumption of 227 Watts and a recorded peak of 369 Watts.

On December 14 Intel launched its first generation Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" line of mobile processors, and here is a a brief overview of the various processor models on offer at launch, thanks to a compilation by ComputerBase.de. "Meteor Lake" is Intel's first completely disaggregated processor, in which its numerous components are broken up into chiplets fabricated on different foundry nodes that strike the right performance/Watt suitable to the component, all held together by Intel's Foveros packaging technology (an evolution in multi-chip modules with a design focus on reducing inter-chiplet latencies to levels comparable to components on a monolithic chip). "Meteor Lake" also introduces a 3-tiered heterogeneous CPU architecture, with the introduction of the low-power island CPU cores.

Intel's mobile processor lineup is broadly categorized into the U-segment, targeting thin-and-light and ultraportable devices; and the H-segment, targeting notebooks of conventional thickness. At launch, the Core Ultra H-segment, and U-segment processors will coexist with P-segment processor models from the 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" series; as well as the upcoming 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" HX-segment. The P-segment is positioned between the U- and H-segments, targeting a class of devices that either what to be thin-and-light mainstream notebooks, or higher performance ultraportables. The HX-segment caters to high performance gaming notebooks and mobile workstations.

Intel Graphics today released the Arc GPU Graphics drivers 101.5122 WHQL. These are the first drivers to support the Intel Arc Xe-LPG integrated graphics of the recently announced Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" mobile processors. The drivers also introduce a handy 30% performance uplift for "Battlefield 1" at 1080p with Ultra settings. Intel also introduced a handful new features with Arc Control, which include neural style webcam filters over background effects; HDR capture and HDR to SDR streaming HDR displays, and customized hotkeys. With this release, Intel fixed a bug that caused a display corruption during "Fortnite" gameplay with certain AA settings.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc GPU Graphics Drivers 101.5122 WHQL

With the zeitgeist of AI technology taking the world by storm, MSI, a world-leading premium laptop brand, has taken it in stride through its professionalism over luxurious aesthetics, extreme performance and innovative technology. Featuring the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the new Prestige 16 AI series weighs merely 1.5 kg by virtue of the Magnesium Alloy chassis, yet carries a 99.9 WHr battery with up to PD 3.1 140 W Charging for long-lasting usage to pump up productivity.

Sporting up to the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the new Prestige 16 AI series capitalizes on Intel's integrated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) technology, a dedicated AI acceleration core that generates a much more efficient CPU/GPU computing experience as well as enhances power efficiency. By riding the wave of enhancing the performance of AI-related tasks, Intel has collaborated with over 100 AI-ready applications to further accelerate workflow by transitioning workload to NPU.

ASUS today announced the 14-inch and 16-inch ExpertBook B5 (B5404 and B5604), an ultralight, AI-ready marvel that combines the latest up to Intel Core Ultra processors and discrete NVIDIA graphics, ushering in a new era of productivity, plus a taller 16:10 display for deeper immersion, with optional touchscreen functionality.

With AI-powered features like an intelligent camera and noise cancelation plus and seamless WiFi 7 and 4G LTE connectivity, ExpertBook B5 ensures that everyday business is smarter, faster and smoother. Security is also paramount, with biometric login, SSD with RAID 0/1 support and an optional smart card reader for enterprise-grade protection. From top to bottom, inside and out, ExpertBook B5 is expertly crafted for effective, enjoyable work - making it the perfect on-the-go companion for mobile professionals to multitask confidently.

Ahead of CES 2024, Lenovo unveiled new business and consumer laptops designed to unlock new AI experiences and boost productivity, creativity and efficiency. The new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, and IdeaPad Pro 5i are Intel Evo laptops powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra processors and Windows 11 that deliver optimal power efficiency, performance, and immersive experiences.

Dedicated AI acceleration support will help users embrace new experiences and enhance efficiency in work and play, including capabilities enabled by Copilot in Windows. Whether for business or leisure, these Lenovo laptops are amongst the first that are driving an AI PC revolution that will fundamentally change how people create, collaborate, and interact with PCs. Designed to offer users the most comprehensive PC experiences yet, ThinkPad X1 and IdeaPad Pro 5i will help users embrace a new generation of AI computing.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced the release of its most intelligent PC lineup yet: Galaxy Book4 Ultra, Book4 Pro and Book4 Pro 360. The latest series comes with a new intelligent processor, a more vivid and interactive display and a robust security system—beginning a new era of AI PCs that offers ultimate productivity, mobility and connectivity. These enhancements not only improve the device itself but also elevate the entire Samsung Galaxy ecosystem, advancing the PC category and accelerating Samsung's vision of AI innovation—for both today and tomorrow.

"Samsung is committed to empowering people to experience new possibilities that enhance their everyday lives. This new paradigm can be achieved through our expansive Galaxy ecosystem and open collaboration with other industry leaders," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. "The Galaxy Book4 series plays a key role in bringing best-in-class connectivity to our ecosystem that will broaden how people interact with their PC, phone, tablet and other devices for truly intelligent and connected experiences."

GIGABYTE, the world's leading computer brand, proudly introduces the latest evolution in gaming laptops for 2024 - the AORUS 17 and AORUS 15 - delivering cutting-edge performance in their signature sleek and portable package.

Powered by the all-new Intel Core Ultra 7 processors and equipped with full-powered NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs alongside expandable DDR5 memory, the AORUS 17 and AORUS 15 effortlessly handle demanding gaming and creative tasks on the go. The exclusive WINDFORCE Infinity cooling technology ensures optimal performance in a super-portable chassis, while the addition of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies provides an immersive personal cinema experience.

ASUS today announced ASUS ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook Plus, the first Chromebook to feature the all-new Intel Core Ultra 7 processor to supercharge business and personal productivity - and the first Expert-series Chromebook Plus from ASUS.

ASUS ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook Plus is exquisitely engineered to elevate the competitive edge for organizations of all sizes, with 2X the power, speed, memory and storage of other devices, and a high-definition camera and display, empowering companies and colleagues to do their best work. Google's built-in AI video call features enhance clarity and lighting, cancel noise, and blur the background. With the power of ChromeOS and a raft of new AI features, ASUS ExpertBook CX54 Chromebook Plus helps drive the modern workforce, unleashing organizational creativity and enabling offline work from anywhere -ready for business success in style.

MSI, a leading global server provider, introduces its latest server platforms powered by 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. These platforms showcase remarkable performance per watt improvements across the most demanding workloads, including AI, databases, networking, storage, and HPC.

"Enterprises and organizations face the challenge of reducing their capital and operating expenses, and new technologies like 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors continue to drive changes in the business landscape," said Danny Hsu, General Manager of Enterprise Platform Solutions. "The enhancements in MSI's server platforms empower our customers to meet their requirements while effectively managing increasing workload demands." "5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors are designed to accelerate the greatest range of workloads. By optimizing the use of CPU core resources, built-in accelerators deliver more efficient utilization and power efficiency advantages, helping businesses achieve their performance and sustainability goals," said Suzi Jewett, General Manager of 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, at Intel.

Acer today announced the new Predator Triton Neo 16 (PTN16-51) gaming laptop, designed with the new Intel Core Ultra processors with dedicated AI acceleration capabilities and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs that support demanding games and creative applications. Players and content creators can marvel at enhanced video game scenes and designs on the laptop's 16-inch display with up to a stunning 3.2K resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate and Calman-Verified displays, producing accurate colors right out-of-the-box.

The state-of-the-art cooling system combines a 5th Gen AeroBlade fan and liquid metal thermal grease on the CPU to keep the laptop running at full steam, while users stay on top of communications and device management thanks to the AI-enhanced Acer PurifiedVoice 2.0 software and the PredatorSense utility app. This Windows 11 gaming PC also provides players with amazing performance experiences and one month of Xbox Game Pass for access to hundreds of high-quality PC games.

GIGABYTE Technology: Giga Computing, a subsidiary of GIGABYTE and an industry leader in high-performance servers and IT infrastructure, is thrilled to present a cutting-edge series of servers optimized for the newly launched Intel Xeon E-2400 processors. These servers deliver essential computing power, ensuring a dependable workload for a wide range of enterprise and edge computing applications, all while maintaining an impressive price-to-performance ratio.

"We are thrilled to unveil our latest server product line, which is engineered to deliver unparalleled performance and reliability," said Vincent Wang, sales VP at Giga Computing. "By leveraging the power of the new Intel Xeon E processors, our servers empower businesses to elevate their computational capabilities, enabling them to achieve greater efficiency and productivity. Whether it's for enterprise applications or edge computing tasks, GIGABYTE servers are the cornerstone of innovation in the digital landscape." ⁠

TYAN, a leading server platform design manufacturer and a MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation subsidiary, today introduced upgraded server platforms and motherboards based on the brand-new 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, formerly codenamed Emerald Rapids.

5th Gen Intel Xeon processor has increased to 64 cores, featuring a larger shared cache, higher UPI and DDR5 memory speed, as well as PCIe 5.0 with 80 lanes. Growing and excelling with workload-optimized performance, 5th Gen Intel Xeon delivers more compute power and faster memory within the same power envelope as the previous generation. "5th Gen Intel Xeon is the second processor offering inside the 2023 Intel Xeon Scalable platform, offering improved performance and power efficiency to accelerate TCO and operational efficiency", said Eric Kuo, Vice President of Server Infrastructure Business Unit, MiTAC Computing Technology Corporation. "By harnessing the capabilities of Intel's new Xeon CPUs, TYAN's 5th-Gen Intel Xeon-supported solutions are designed to handle the intense demands of HPC, data centers, and AI workloads.

At its "AI Everywhere" launch in New York City today, Intel introduced an unmatched portfolio of AI products to enable customers' AI solutions everywhere—across the data center, cloud, network, edge and PC. "AI innovation is poised to raise the digital economy's impact up to as much as one-third of global gross domestic product," Gelsinger said. "Intel is developing the technologies and solutions that empower customers to seamlessly integrate and effectively run AI in all their applications—in the cloud and, increasingly, locally at the PC and edge, where data is generated and used."

Gelsinger showcased Intel's expansive AI footprint, spanning cloud and enterprise servers to networks, volume clients and ubiquitous edge environments. He also reinforced that Intel is on track to deliver five new process technology nodes in four years. "Intel is on a mission to bring AI everywhere through exceptionally engineered platforms, secure solutions and support for open ecosystems. Our AI portfolio gets even stronger with today's launch of Intel Core Ultra ushering in the age of the AI PC and AI-accelerated 5th Gen Xeon for the enterprise," Gelsinger said.

Today at the "AI Everywhere" event, Intel launched its 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors (code-named Emerald Rapids) that deliver increased performance per watt and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) across critical workloads for artificial intelligence, high performance computing (HPC), networking, storage, database and security. This launch marks the second Xeon family upgrade in less than a year, offering customers more compute and faster memory at the same power envelope as the previous generation. The processors are software- and platform-compatible with 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors, allowing customers to upgrade and maximize the longevity of infrastructure investments while reducing costs and carbon emissions.

"Designed for AI, our 5th Gen Intel Xeon processors provide greater performance to customers deploying AI capabilities across cloud, network and edge use cases. As a result of our long-standing work with customers, partners and the developer ecosystem, we're launching 5th Gen Intel Xeon on a proven foundation that will enable rapid adoption and scale at lower TCO." -Sandra Rivera, Intel executive vice president and general manager of Data Center and AI Group.

Intel today is hosting the AI Everywhere event, and we're liveblogging it! The company continues to be a technology leader, with the largest market-share in PC and data-centers alike. The company sees great potential in AI acceleration on the edge, with AI making its way to mainstream consumer applications. It knows that not all AI workload can be processed in a datacenter, and is empowering its next generation Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" mobile processors with a powerful neural processing unit, the next evolution in its Hybrid CPU architecture, and a feature-rich new iGPU that can take the fight to AMD's expertise in the field. Later in the event, Intel is announcing its next generation Xeon "Emerald Rapids" server processors that dial up CPU core counts per socket, use the latest CPU core architecture, and are packed to the gills with server application-specific fixed-function accelerators. Join us as we unwrap this evening's biggest announcements.15:00 UTC:Intel is streaming from NYC. "AI is everywhere.

MINISFORUM has just unveiled its latest entry-level office Mini PC, the UN100L, with a pre-sale price of $209 for the 16+512 GB version. This compact system is tailored for cost-effective entry-level markets, equipped with the 12th generation Intel N100 processor. It is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized business users with text-based office requirements and can also function as a set-top box.

The MINISFORUM UN100L features the 12th generation Intel Alder Lake-N100 ultra-low power processor, boasting four cores and four threads. With a baseline TDP power consumption as low as 6 W, it excels in energy efficiency compared to other processors. Simultaneously, its turbo boost performance can reach up to 9 W, a 30% improvement over the previous N5105 generation, fully satisfying the general home use needs of ordinary users. In terms of storage, the UN100L is equipped with 16 GB LPDDR5-4800 low-power, high-performance memory, enhancing data bandwidth. It incorporates an M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 SSD while also supporting TF cards and 2.5-inch HDD, leading in storage expandability within its price range and suitable for use as a lightweight NAS.

Intel on Wednesday held a pre-launch round-table with HotHardware, in which it made several performance disclosures of its upcoming Core "Meteor Lake" mobile processor, comparing it with the current U-segment chips based on the 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake," and competing AMD Ryzen 7040 "Phoenix." In these, the company is claiming that its next-generation iGPU based on the Xe-LPG graphics architecture, armed with 128 EU, is significantly outperforming the Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU of the Ryzen 7040, while its CPU is ahead in multi-threaded performance.

In its comparison, the company picked the Core Ultra 7 165H, a middle-of-the-market performance segment part in the 28 W class. This is compared to the Core i7-1370P "Raptor Lake," and the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U. The company also dropped in the fastest Windows-ready Arm chip in the market, the Qualcomm 8cx Gen 3. In the 33 games that the 165H was compared to the 7840U, the Intel iGPU is shown posting performance leads ranging between 3% to 70% over the Radeon 780M, in 23 out of 33 games. In one of the games, the two perform on par with each other. In 9 out of 33 games, the Radeon 780M beats the Intel Xe-LPG by 2% to 18%. The iGPU of the 165H packs 8 Xe cores, or 128 EU (1,024 unified shaders). The Radeon 780M is powered by 12 RDNA3 compute units (768 stream processors).

Intel is preparing to expand its 14th Gen Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" desktop processor lineup with the introduction of mainstream 65 W processor models that lack overclocking capabilities and include a cooling solution in the retail channel. The company is planning to make these chips available to purchase on January 8, 2024. Intel has set 15:00 Pacific on January 8th as the availability time; it's also the time when the media can post their reviews of these chips. The chips should be supported on all Socket LGA1700 motherboards, across Intel 600-series and 700-series chipsets, including the entry-level H610; however, some of these boards may require UEFI firmware updates. We've known the processor model numbers and specs of these chips for a while now, and they're starting to appear on web-stores as placeholder listing. It's possible that Intel allows retailers to take in pre-orders a few days before January 8.

After years of delays, Chinese chipmaker Zhaoxin has finally launched its long-awaited KX-7000 series consumer CPUs, only one of its kind in China, based on the licensed x86-64 ISA. Zhaoxin claims the new 8-core processors based on "Century Avenue" uArch deliver double the performance of previous generations. Leveraging architectural improvements and 4X more cache, the KX-7000 represents essential progress for China's domestic semiconductor industry. While still likely lagging behind rival AMD and Intel chips in raw speed, the KX-7000 matches competitive specs in areas like DDR5 memory, PCIe 4.0, and USB4 support. For Chinese efforts to attain technological independence, closing feature gaps with foreign processors is just as crucial as boosting performance. Manufactured on a 16 nm process, the KX-7000 does not use the best silicon node available.

Other chip details include out-of-order execution (OoOE), 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, a 32 MB pool of L3 cache and 4 MB L2 cache, a base frequency of 3.2 GHz, and a boost clock of 3.7 GHz. Interestingly, the CPU also has VT-x, BT-d 2.5, SSE4.2/AVX/AVX2 support, most likely also licensed from the x86 makers Intel and/or AMD. Ultimately, surpassing Western processors is secondary for China next to attaining self-reliance. Instructions like SM encryption catering to domestic data protection priorities underscore how the KX-7000 advances strategic autonomy goals. With its x86 architecture license giving software compatibility and now a vastly upgraded platform, the KX-7000 will raise China's chip capabilities even if it is still trailing rivals' speeds. Ongoing progress closing that performance gap could position Zhaoxin as a mainstream alternative for local PC builders and buyers.