Chinese cloud giant releases homegrown operating system for Chinese server CPUs — TencentOS Server V3 supports Huawei Kunpeng, Sugon Hygon, and Phytium FeiTeng chips

As shipments of high-performance processors based on x86 and Arm architectures to China face challenges, the country is gradually adopting locally designed data center platforms. As a result, Chinese companies also must adopt locally developed operating systems. Tencent Cloud recently unveiled TencentOS Server V3, which supports Huawei's Kunpeng, Sugon's Hygon, and Phytium's FeiTeng CPUs, reports DigiTimes.

The TencentOS Server V3 is designed primarily for large-scale server clusters powered by China's three main server CPU lines: Arm-based Huawei's Kunpeng, x86-based Sugon's Hygon, and Arm-based Phytium's FeiTeng CPUs. The operating system optimizes CPU usage, power consumption, and memory usage. To better optimize its operating system and data centers for domestic processors, Tencent partnered with Huawei and Sugon to develop high-performance platforms for domestic databases.

Also, the TencentOS Server V3 can run GPU clusters, which will be helpful for Tencent's AI efforts. The latest version of the OS fully supports Nvidia GPU virtualization to increase the utilization of processors when they are used for simple yet resource-consuming services, such as optical character recognition (OCR). According to DigiTimes, this innovation has reduced Nvidia cluster card procurement costs by nearly 60%.

DigiTimes reports that with nearly 10 million machines in operation, TencentOS Server is one of China's most widely deployed Linux OS. However, this is not the only server-oriented Linux distribution developed in Tianxia. For example, Huawei has developed its operating system, OpenEuler. Last year, OpenEuler held a 36.8% share of the Chinese server OS market, leading over CentOS/Red Hat (20.7%), Windows (19.3%), and Ubuntu/Debian (10.1%).

Huawei began its development of EulerOS in response to U.S. sanctions, and the first open-source version was released in December 2019, followed by a commercial release in September 2021. The report says that openEuler-powered servers will gain substantial market share in various sectors, including over 50% in finance, more than 70% in public services, and over 40% in energy and power industries by 2023.

The adoption of domestic server operating systems signifies China's dedication to technological independence and improved cybersecurity. Tencent's efforts in server OS development, alongside Huawei's advancements, indicate a strong trend towards self-reliance in technology within China. This move addresses security and supply concerns and ensures greater control over critical digital infrastructure.