There are only two options for desktop and laptop CPUs,
AMD or Intel, right? Wrong, or at least sort of wrong.
You see, it wasn't too long ago that in China, there were factories churning out x86 compatible CPUs
that weren't actually made by either of those companies.
But hold on a second, everyone loves importing Chinese-made goods on the cheap,
so why didn't we see them on store shelves all over the world?
To get to the bottom of this, we called in a few favors. So massive shout outs to Dr. Kutras from Nantec,
Wendell from Level One Techs, and Drew Prairie for their help unraveling this.
Here's what happened. Back in 2015, AMD had not released
their blockbuster Ryzen series of processors yet
and was struggling financially in a big way. They identified a demand for a CPU
that was specifically designed for the Chinese market
and Chinese government entities, but they needed to jump through some hoops
in order to take advantage of it. So AMD formed a joint venture
with a Chinese investment consortium called FATIC.
And while the joint venture was partially owned by AMD,
it operated separately to a large extent.
Now, of course, to build an x86 CPU, you need a lot of expertise
and AMD wasn't gonna just give away all of its secrets
to how it designed its processors. So instead, AMD provided the joint venture
with portions of its intellectual property that allowed it to build processors
based on existing AMD core designs and make changes only to things like
the processors input output controls or IO,
as well as cryptographic engines, possibly due to a desire of the Chinese government
for added security. The resulting chips were primarily designed
for the server market. And even though they started turning up months
before AMD actually launched any Zen-based CPUs
under their own brand, it turns out that they're quite comparable
to first generation, epic processors and are even pin compatible
with epic motherboards found in other countries. But then hold on a sec.
If AMD went to the trouble of starting up a joint venture in China,
does this mean that you might see Chinese CPUs
become a real alternative to the market dominance of Intel and AMD proper?
Well, right now that doesn't look too likely. The performance isn't any better
and there aren't any additional features on these Chinese chips that would make them appealing
to a customer overseas. Furthermore, all AMD ever really gave the joint venture
was the rights to use a core based around the first generation of Zen and nothing beyond that.
And although AMD earned a good chunk of money from the joint venture,
it was the broader release of Ryzen and Epic
that really helped turn the company's fortunes around.
In fact, the same AMD and Intel chips that you find in other countries
can still be bought in China. So it isn't as if there's a glaring need
for a third source of CPUs. And it also appears that the joint venture
might be inactive by this point anyway. So not only has AMD not given the joint venture
any Zen designs past the first generation, the Chinese chip maker is now
on the US government's entity list, meaning that the joint venture
can't do business with the US companies, sell to any other entity on the list
or receive technology from American firms. So there are a number of these chips
out in the wild currently, but it is unlikely that they're making any more.
Of course, with AMD writing itself with the success of Ryzen and Epic,
this isn't exactly a huge loss for them. So I wouldn't anticipate tons of x86 chips
from other companies anytime soon. But even though the chips are only a few years old,
they're already a collector's item. If you can somehow find a way to get your hands on one,
just don't expect it to make your PC any faster.
So thanks for watching, guys. Like, dislike, check out our other videos.
Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any feature fast as possible. So maybe leave us a comment.
What would you do with one of these Chinese CPUs? Make like a sweet chain, like yo, like geek swag.