New Chinese chip uses IBM's open standard Power ISA instead of x86 or Arm — country searches for alternatives to sanctioned US processor designs as firm debuts second-gen server CPU

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By Anton Shilov
published

China-based Hexin Technology taps RISC for future server CPUs.

Hexin Technology
(Image credit: Jiwei.com)

Hexin Technology, a CPU developer from China, said that it had powered on its HX-C2000 TC2, the second-gen test chip of its upcoming HX-C2000 processor based on the RISC instruction set architecture, marking yet another step forward for China as the country looks to overcome US sanctions. The chip wields 110 billion transistors and uses IBM's open standard Power ISA. The company plans to use the CPU for a wide range of applications, including artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and cloud computing, reports Jiwei.com.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Hexin's HX-C2000 is the company's choice of architecture. Most server CPUs today use either the Arm, RISC-V, or x86 instruction set architecture (ISA), but the Hexin team has turned to IBM's Power, an open standard RISC ISA. This ISA is formally open to everyone and debuted in China in 2014. The Hexin team comprises 400 members, many recruited from IBM's high-performance R&D center. The team has "reconstructed" IBM's closed design methodology with its EDA chip design tools, design flow, and architecture. 

China's server market is expected to reach $30.8 billion in 2023 according to IDC, and the vast majority of servers sold in China are based on x86 processors from AMD and Intel. Given restrictions that the U.S. government has imposed against China's AI and high-performance computing (HPC) sectors -- part of an ongoing "chip war" between the two countries -- China is inclined to build its own CPUs and GPUs to use in consumer PCs and servers.

Hexin's HX-C2000 server design features an unknown number of RISC cores and appropriate input/output capabilities. Before Hexin builds its fully-fledged HX-C2000, it must build test chips (TC). The initial TC1 version was taped out and powered in 2022, and recently, the company powered on its second test chip, the TC2 (HX-C2000TC2). Apparently, it took Hexin just four hours to power on its HX-C2000TC2, indicating the silicon's readiness. In addition, the developer claims the chip met all of its expectations.

The TC2 silicon is an important step towards taping out the whole HX-C2000 and its mass production sometime next year, though it is unclear when exactly the company will deliver the final chips.

While server programs support the RISC ISA, they are barely optimized for Hexin's HX-C2000, especially for modern workloads like AI, HPC, and cloud. That said, while Hexin may make its HX-C2000 available next year, it will take the company quite some time to ensure that its CPU is properly supported by popular programs used in the markets it plans to serve.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Freelance News Writer

Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

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11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gg83
    "The team has "reconstructed" IBM's closed design methodology with its EDA chip design tools, design flow, and architecture" lmao.
    Reply
  • HaninTH
    Recombobulation complete!
    Reply
  • bit_user
    New Chinese chip uses IBM's open source Power ISA instead of x86 or Arm
    @PaulAlcorn , @JarredWaltonGPU would someone please tell Anton that it's "open standard", not "open source"! Same thing with RISC-V.

    You can open source an implementation, not a specification (which is what an ISA is).

    Anton is too smart to keep getting this wrong. No, it's not a minor distinction.
    Reply
  • Findecanor
    Request clarification of what "open" parts that the Chinese company is using here.

    The Power ISA may be "open", but that does not mean that all implementations of it are "open source".
    Yet, there do exist a few open source implementations of the Power ISA.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    I think it'd be pretty amazing if China ends up saving the POWER ISA. Right now, it looks like it's getting edged out by x86, ARM, and RISC-V.

    I don't have much else to say about POWER, other than I hope they focus on software running in LE mode. I'm guessing they will, since I think no official distros still available for it use BE.

    It'd be interesting to see a feature comparison of the latest OpenPOWER revision vs. ARMv9-A.
    Reply
  • PaulAlcorn
    bit_user said:
    @PaulAlcorn , @JarredWaltonGPU would someone please tell Anton that it's "open standard", not "open source"! Same thing with RISC-V.

    You can open source an implementation, not a specification (which is what an ISA is).

    Anton is too smart to keep getting this wrong. No, it's not a minor distinction.
    Good point, thanks for the flag. We'll get it fixed.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    bit_user said:
    @PaulAlcorn , @JarredWaltonGPU would someone please tell Anton that it's "open standard", not "open source"! Same thing with RISC-V.

    You can open source an implementation, not a specification (which is what an ISA is).

    Anton is too smart to keep getting this wrong. No, it's not a minor distinction.
    Fixed, thanks.
    Reply
  • t3t4
    Could someone explain to me in a nutshell, what's the big deal with China and AI?

    They already make everything the rest of the world has to buy, so the rest of the world making things hard on them only makes it hard on everybody! Where's the logic?
    Reply
  • bit_user
    t3t4 said:
    Could someone explain to me in a nutshell, what's the big deal with China and AI?
    It's hard to say much about the sanctions without saying too much, but I believe they stem from alleged human rights abuses that were facilitated through the use of AI/mass surveillance technology and China's territorial expansionism (South China Sea, etc.).

    t3t4 said:
    They already make everything the rest of the world has to buy, so the rest of the world making things hard on them only makes it hard on everybody! Where's the logic?
    Sanctions are typically used as leverage to accomplish some goal. There's a lot of non-public diplomacy between the sides, so we really can't say much about the negotiating positions or where things stand. Everyone knows China will eventually reach technological parity with the rest of the world, so I don't think the aim is to hold them back, as a lot of the public sentiment seems to think.
    Reply
  • gg83
    bit_user said:
    It's hard to say much about the sanctions without saying too much, but I believe they stem from alleged human rights abuses that were facilitated through the use of AI/mass surveillance technology and China's territorial expansionism (South China Sea, etc.).


    Sanctions are typically used as leverage to accomplish some goal. There's a lot of non-public diplomacy between the sides, so we really can't say much about the negotiating positions or where things stand. Everyone knows China will eventually reach technological parity with the rest of the world, so I don't think the aim is to hold them back, as a lot of the public sentiment seems to think.
    Nailed It!
    Reply