Zhaoxin

Shanghai Zhaoxin Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

Zhaoxin's current logo, used since 2013

Industry| Semiconductors
Founded| 2013; 13 years ago (2013)
Headquarters|

Shanghai

China

Area served

| China
Products| Central processing units
Microprocessors
Website| www.zhaoxin.com

Zhaoxin (Shanghai Zhaoxin Semiconductor Co., Ltd.; /ˈtʃaʊʃɪn/, Chinese: 兆芯; pinyin: Zhàoxīn cmn) is a fabless semiconductor company, created in 2013 as a joint venture between VIA Technologies and the Shanghai Municipal Government.[1] The company manufactures x86-compatible desktop and laptop CPUs.[2] The term Zhào xīn means million core.[note 1] The processors are created mainly for the Chinese market: the venture is an attempt to reduce the Chinese dependence on foreign technology.[3][4]

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Architecture
* 3 Development
* 4 Discrete GPU
* 5 Summary of architecture
* 6 Uses
* 7 Performance
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 Notes
* 11 External links

## Background

Zhaoxin is a joint venture between VIA Technologies and the Shanghai Municipal Government.[1] In 2021 it was reported that VIA has a 14.75% shareholding in the company.[5] China has a domestic policy to "replace all foreign hardware and software from its public infrastructure with homegrown solutions" by 2023 (the so-called 3–5–2 policy).[6] VIA holds an x86 license which allows its subsidiaries to produce compatible microprocessors; this allows Zhaoxin to develop x86 computer chips.[5]

## Architecture

The architecture of the initial ZX family of processors is a continuation of VIA's Centaur Technology x86-64 Isaiah design.[7][8] The ZX-A and ZX-B are based on the VIA Nano X2 C4350AL.[citation needed] The ZX-B is identical to the ZX-A, except that it is manufactured by Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation (HLMC).[citation needed] The ZX-C is based on the VIA QuadCore-E & Eden X4.[citation needed] Zhaoxin calls this architecture "Zhangjiang", however, it is thought that the basis is the VIA Isaiah 2 architecture.[8] Like the VIA processors they were based on, early ZX processors were ball grid array chips sold pre-soldered onto a motherboard.

Zhaoxin came to the attention of the North American and European technology press when, in late 2017 and early 2018, it launched the ZX-D processor and revealed plans for future products.[1][2] Zhaoxin calls the ZX-D architecture "Wudaokou"; this is a complete re-design of the VIA Isaiah. It is also a departure from earlier microarchitectures, such as ZhangJiang, which were a lightly modified version of a VIA Technologies (Centaur) architecture. WuDaoKou was a new and complete SoC design.[9][8] Changes implemented in the ZX-D included the integration of a northbridge, like in modern x86 designs, as well as the addition of Chinese cryptographic functions.[8] The ZX-D series also had an integrated graphics processing unit (iGPU) based on S3 Graphics technology (previously owned by VIA).[10][11]

The former ZX naming was dropped around 2018 in favour of the KX ("KaiXian") designation for desktop processors and the KH ("KaisHeng") designation for server processors.

## Development

The successor to the ZX-D, the KX-6000 system on a chip (also called ZX-E), was demonstrated to the press in September 2018.[10] The architecture, an evolution of the ZX-D architecture, was called "Lujiazui".[9] The KX-6000 was formally launched in 2019.[12] In June 2019 the KX-6000 was reported to being built on a 16 nm TSMC process.[13] The chip has a DirectX 11.1 compatible iGPU.[10][11] In 2022, Zhaoxin was noted to have added ZX-E specific compiler support for the GNU Compiler Collection.[12]

The successor to the KX-6000, the ZX-F or KX-7000 processor series, was initially planned for release in 2021. The KX-7000 chip was reported to be planned for release on a 7 nm process with DDR5 support.[12] An alleged benchmark result for a ZX-F appeared on GeekBench in 2020.[14]

The KX-7000 was finally released in December 2023, two years late.[15] According to test results reported by Tom's Hardware, this processor was twice as fast as the KX-6000 series that came before it.[16] The benchmark score indicated that not only had clock speeds improved substantially, but also instructions-per-clock. In comparison, the KX-7000 was deemed to be on par with similar processors made by AMD or Intel in the mid-to-late 2010s.[16] Zhaoxin was itself reported as saying that the KX-7000 reached the same level of performance as the seventh-generation Intel Core i5-7400 (which was launched in 2017).[16]

## Discrete GPU

In 2020 Zhaoxin announced it was planning to release a dedicated graphics card.[11]

## Summary of architecture

Family | μarch codename | SKU | Year introduced | Process | Cores | Frequency | Features | Notes

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

ZX-A[2][7] | VIA Isaiah |  | 2014 | 40 nm | 2 | 1.6 Ghz (up to)[17] | x86-64, SSE4.1, VT-x, PadLock[17] | Based on the VIA Nano X2 C4350AL
ZX-B[2][7] | VIA Isaiah |  | 2014–2015 | 40 nm |  |  |  | Identical to ZX-A[18]
ZX-C[2] | Zhangjiang |  | 2015 | 28 nm | 4 | 2.0 GHz | SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2[19] | Based on the VIA QuadCore-E & Eden X4
ZX-C+[2] | Zhangiang |  | 2016 | 28 nm | 4/8 | 2.0 GHz |

* SM3 and SM4 in VIA PadLock[20]
* AES-NI

| A TDP of 35W[21]
ZX-D | Wudaokou | KX-5000 (consumer) [2][22]
KH-20000 (server) [21] | 2017 | 28 nm[23] | 4/8[23] | 2.0 GHz |

* Trusted Execution Technology[24]
* dual channel DDR4[21]
* PCI Express 3.0
* USB 3.1 (Gen 1 and 2)
* USB 2.0
* SATA 3
* System-on-a-chip (SoC) with DirectX 11.1[21]

| Manufactured by TSMC
ZX-E | Lujiazui[25] | KX-6000 (consumer) [26] / KH-30000 (server) [21][11] | 2019 | 16 nm[10][11] | 8 (up to)[10] | 3 GHz (up to)[10] |

* DDR4[10]
* PCIe 3.0[27]
* RDSEED, RDRAND, SHA, UMIP supported
* SoC[21][10]

| Manufactured by TSMC[28]
Lujiazui[25] | KX-6000G (consumer) [29] | 2022  | 16 nm[29] | 4 (up to)  | 3.3 GHz (up to)[29] | GPU supports: DX12, OpenCL 1.2, OpenGL 4.6

* DDR4[29]
* PCIe 3.0
* SoC

| With Glenfly GT-10C0 integrated GPU[30][31]
Yongfeng[32] | KH-40000 (server) [29] | 2022[33] | 16 nm | 32 (up to)[29] | 2.2 GHz (up to)[29] |

* DDR4[29]
* PCIe 3.0
* SoC

ZX-F  | Shijidadao[34] | KX-7000 (consumer) [1][35] | 2023[15] | 7 nm[35] | 8 (up to)  | 3.7 GHz (up to)[36] |

* DDR5
* PCIe 4.0[27]
* SoC[21]
* FMA3

| KX-7000N (consumer) | 2025 | 7 nm |  |  | NPU |
| KH-50000 (server) [37] | 2025 | 7 nm | 96 (up to) | 3.0 GHz | 12x DDR5 ECC
ZPI 5.0
128x PCIe 5.0
16x PCIe 4.0
384 MB cache (all levels) |
Family | μarch codename | SKU | Year introduced | Process | Cores | Frequency | Features | Notes

## Uses

Zhaoxin processors have mainly been used for Chinese laptops.[13]

Outside China, Zhaoxin processors have been used in some NAS appliances, most notably the QNAP TVS-675.[38][39]

## Performance

The Zhaoxin ZX-C+ 4701 CPU was reviewed in 2020, and showed significantly worse performance against older Intel (i5 2500K) and AMD (Athlon 3000G) processors.[40] The ZX-D was noted to have roughly the performance of the Intel Silvermont (Avoton) processors (which were launched in 2013).[8]

The ZX-E / KX-6000 is reported to have a 50% performance increase over the KX-5000, and comparable performance to a 7th generation Intel i5 core processor from 2016 (namely the Core i5-7400).[10][13][11] The 8-core ZX-E U6780A was reviewed by Linus Tech Tips in August 2020.[41] The review processor was benchmarked to be slightly slower than a 3rd generation Intel i5 quad-core processor (originally released in 2012–2013) using Cinebench.[41] Gaming performance was noted to be poor, whilst the machine itself was noted to be expensive for its performance by 2020 standards.[41] Tom's Hardware also reviewed the U6780A and reported poor gaming performance in 2020.[9]

The aim for the ZX-F series is for performance parity with the 2018 series Ryzen processors (i.e. the AMD Zen+ microarchitecture, the predecessor to AMD Zen 2).[8]

## See also

* Semiconductor industry
* Semiconductor industry in China
* AMD–Chinese joint venture
* Loongson
* FeiTeng
* Sunway (processor)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chan, Leon (3 January 2018). "Via's Chinese Joint Venture Aims For Competitive Home-Grown X86 SOCs By 2019". Hexus.net. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/via-chinese-x86-soc-2019,36209.html.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Tyson, Mark (2 January 2018). "VIA and Zhaoxin ZX- family of x86 processors roadmap shared". Hexus.net. https://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/113735-via-zhaoxin-zx-family-x86-processors-roadmap-shared/.
3. ↑ Clark, Don (21 April 2016). "AMD to License Chip Technology to China Chip Venture". Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/amd-to-license-chip-technology-to-china-chip-venture-1461269701. ""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. https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2018/05/23/china-supports-local-semiconductor-firms-by-adding-them-to-government-procurement-list.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Shilov, Anton (28 October 2020). "Chinese Chip-Producer Zhaoxin and Via Technologies Strengthen Ties" (in en). Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/via-technologies-and-zhaoxin-strengthen-ties.
6. ↑ Potoroaca, Adrian (5 March 2021). "China will use aging chips while its semiconductor industry catches up". TechSpot. https://www.techspot.com/news/88838-china-use-aging-chips-while-semiconductor-industry-catches.html.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "KaiXian (ZX/KX) – Zhaoxin". https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/zhaoxin/kaixian.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Schor, David (21 January 2018). "Zhaoxin launches their highest-performance Chinese x86 chips". WikiChip. https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/733/zhaoxin-launches-their-highest-performance-chinese-x86-chips/.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Alcorn, Paul (10 April 2020). "Zhaoxin KaiXian x86 CPU Tested: The Rise of China's Chips" (in en). Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/features/zhaoxin-kx-u6780a-x86-cpu-tested.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 Shilov, Anton (24 September 2018). "Zhaoxin Displays x86-Compatible KaiXian KX-6000: 8 Cores, 3 GHz, 16 nm FinFET". Anandtech. https://www.anandtech.com/show/13388/zhaoxin-shows-x86-compatible-kaixian-kx6000.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Tyson, Mark (10 July 2020). "Chinese CPU maker Zhaoxin to launch a dGPU this year". HEXUS. https://hexus.net/tech/news/graphics/144073-chinese-cpu-maker-zhaoxin-launch-dgpu-year/.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Larabel, Michael. "Zhaoxin Finally Adding "Lujiazui" x86_64 CPU Tuning To GCC" (in en). www.phoronix.com. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zhaoxin-lujiazui-GCC.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Connatser, Matthew (20 June 2019). "Chinese-Produced Zhaoxin KX-6000 CPUs Purportedly Match Intel's Core i5-7400" (in en). Tom's Hardware (Tom's Hardware). https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core-i5-7400,39694.html.
14. ↑ Olšan, Jan (10 November 2019). "2GHz čínský x86 procesor Zhaoxin KX-7000 v Geekbench" (in cs). https://www.cnews.cz/procesor-via-zhaoxin-kx-7000-unik-geekbench-2ghz/.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Shilov, Anton (13 December 2023). "Zhaoxin Unveils KX-7000 CPUs: Eight x86 Cores at Up to 3.70 GHz". www.anandtech.com. https://www.anandtech.com/show/21189/zhaoxin-unveils-kx7000-cpus-eight-x86-cores-at-up-to-370-ghz.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 updated, Paul Alcorn last (2020-04-10). "Zhaoxin KaiXian x86 CPU Tested: The Rise of China's Chips" (in en). https://www.tomshardware.com/features/zhaoxin-kx-u6780a-x86-cpu-tested.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Zhaoxin, Kaixian ZX-A Series CPU. Archived from the original on 11 Mar 2018.
18. ↑ NetEase, 真正走向市场化，揭秘中国兆芯X86处理器 [Truly moving towards marketization, revealing the secrets of China's Zhaoxin X86 processor] (in Chinese), 14 Oct 2016. Archived on 16 Jan 2021.
19. ↑ Zhaoxin, Kaixian ZX-C Series CPU. Archived from the original on 10 Mar 2018.
20. ↑ Zhaoxin, Kaixian Kaixian ZX-C+ Series 4-core CPU. Archived from the original on 10 Mar 2018.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 "兆芯开胜KH-20000新品点亮安全可靠技术和应用研讨会". EETrend. 28 March 2018. http://www.eetrend.com/article/2018-03/100078081.html. Translated through Google Translate at https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.eetrend.com/article/2018-03/100078081.html
22. ↑ "VIA Technologies Subsidiary Zhaoxin Announces New x86-64 CPUs – ExtremeTech". https://www.extremetech.com/computing/261359-via-technologies-subsidiary-zhaoxin-announces-new-line-x86-64-cpus.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Via joint venture reveals KX-5000 x86 SoCs for Chinese PCs". January 2, 2018. https://techreport.com/news/33018/via-joint-venture-reveals-kx-5000-x86-socs-for-chinese-pcs/.
24. ↑ Zhaoxin, Kaixian KX-5000 series 4-core processor. Archived from the original on 17 Dec 2019.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "LuJiaZui – Microarchitectures – Zhaoxin – WikiChip" (in en). https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/zhaoxin/microarchitectures/lujiazui.
26. ↑ "Zhaoxin to roll out 16nm CPU in 2018". digitimes.com. http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20170316PD210.html.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "兆芯自主CPU路线图公布：将追平同期AMD、支持DDR5". MyDrivers.com. 2 January 2018. http://news.mydrivers.com/1/561/561579.htm. Translated through Google Translate at https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://news.mydrivers.com/1/561/561579.htm
28. ↑ "Chinese-Produced Zhaoxin KX-6000 CPUs Purportedly Match Intel's Core i5-7400" (in en). 2019-06-20. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-zhaoxin-kx-6000-core-i5-7400,39694.html.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 Mujtaba, Hassan (2022-11-01). "Zhaoxin Launches KX-6000G High-Performance & KH-40000 Server CPUs For China's Domestic PC Market" (in en-US). https://wccftech.com/zhaoxin-launches-kx-6000g-high-performance-kh-40000-server-cpus-for-china-domestic-pc-market/.
30. ↑ "Chinese Glenfly Arise GT-10C0 GPU Rivals Nvidia's GTX 1630 On Paper" (in en). 2022-07-17. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/chinese-glenfly-arise-gt-10c0-gpu-rivals-nvidias-gtx-1630-on-paper.
31. ↑ Mujtaba, Hassan (2022-07-30). "Chinese-Made Zhaoxin KX-6000G CPU With GT10C0 Integrated GPU Features The Same Performance As NVIDIA's GT 630" (in en-US). https://wccftech.com/chinese-zhaoxin-kx-6000g-cpu-gt10c0-integrated-gpu-features-same-performance-as-nvidia-gt-630/.
32. ↑ "Zhaoxin introduces KH-40000 server CPU series and KX-6000G APUs with improved DX12 graphics" (in en-US). https://videocardz.com/newz/zhaoxin-introduces-kh-40000-server-cpu-series-and-kx-6000g-apus-with-improved-dx12-graphics.
33. ↑ Larabel, Michael (23 March 2023). "Zhaoxin Beginning Work Bringing Up "Yongfeng" CPU Support For The Linux Kernel" (in en). www.phoronix.com. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Zhaoxin-Yongfeng-Linux-Start.
34. ↑ Larabel, Michael (19 June 2024). "Zhaoxin "Shijidadao" x86_64 CPU Support Merged Into The GCC 15 Compiler" (in en). www.phoronix.com. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Zhaxoin-Shijidadao-GCC-15.
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "The only Chinese chipmaker with an x86 license releases surprisingly modern new chips made with a mystery process node — Zhaoxin KX-7000 CPU launches with eight cores, 3.7GHz clocks, PCIe 4.0, DDR5 memory support, and chiplet-based design" (in en). 2023-12-13. https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/chinese-chipmaker-with-x86-license-releases-surprisingly-modern-new-chips-made-with-a-mystery-process-node-xhaoxin-kx-7000-cpu-launches-with-eight-cores-37ghz-clocks-pcie-40-and-ddr5-memory-support.
36. ↑ "兆芯新一代开先® KX-7000系列自主高性能桌面处理器正式发布 - 兆芯". https://www.zhaoxin.com/news_view.aspx?nid=2&typeid=273&id=1625.
37. ↑ "兆芯新款服务器CPU来了！开胜KH-50000处理器加速助推行业数智化转型升级". Zhaoxin. https://www.zhaoxin.com/news_view.aspx?nid=2&typeid=283&id=1857.
38. ↑ QNAP, TVS-675 Hardware Specs. Archived on 19 Jul 2021.
39. ↑ ITPro, Qnap TVS-675 review: Noteworthy, but not impressive, 17 Jan 2022. Archived on 26 Jan 2022.
40. ↑ ""Trillion Core" Chinese CPU vs. AMD & Intel: ZhaoXin X86 CPU Review ZX-C+ 4701". Gamers Nexus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DanhnASClQ.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 Sebastian, Linus. "A Chinese Intel competitor? – 16 August 2020". Linus Tech Tips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEqSHwk93lE.

## Notes

1. ↑ In China 兆 can mean either short-scale million (1e6) or trillion (1e12). However, for IT-related topics 兆 always means mega/million in mainland China.

## External links

* Zhaoxin homepage
* WikiChip article on Zhaoxin

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