Loongson Completes Its First Dedicated GPU, the 9A1000
Chinese tech firm Loongson Technology has presented its first dedicated GPGPU chip known as the 9A1000. The tape-out will happen this year; the success of the chip ultimately hinges on post-production tests. This new GPU, made in China, is planned as an entry-level card with great AI acceleration features.
Important Features and Specifications of the 9A1000
The 9A1000 has been designed with several key upgrades and performance targets:
- Performance Target: Intended to compete with AMD's Radeon RX 550 in performance.
- AI Acceleration: Provides some 40 TOPS of AI-computing ability, thus ranking just below the AI performance of AMD's XDNA 2 NPU.
- Power Efficiency: The GPU is handling 70% less power than the expected targets under light loads.
- API Support: Upgraded core to support OpenGL 4.0 and OpenCL ES 3.2.
- Architecture: Features double graphics pipeline, 25% increased clock speed, and 20% smaller stream processor area.
Significant Performance Improvements
The 9A1000 GPU is a giant leap forward compared with Loongson's previous integrated solution in the 2K3000 processor:
- Overall size of the GPU is quadrupled.
- 5X improvement is estimated in performance.
- Integrated graphics capabilities outperform the LG200 graphics in the 2K3000 by 4x.
Future GPU Roadmap 9A2000 and 9A3000
Loongson seems to have no intention to stop with the 9A1000 and has two more GPUs in the making for higher performance segments.
9A2000: In development, this GPU touts a 10x speedup versus the 9A1000 while targeting the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080.
9A3000: A sibling to the 9A2000 is also in the works, though its specifications remain undisclosed.
Positioning in the Chinese GPU Market
This development of the 9A1000 since its inception in 2023 is pretty much a signal for Loongson to join the other domestic manufacturers of graphics cards in China-the likes of Biren and Moore Threads. The 9A1000 is an entry-level card by targeting a market segment different from other GPUs made in the country, such as the Lisuan G100, which is expected to give competition to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060.
