Set micro-network news (text / Xiaobei) Two years ago, AMD and Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd. (THATIC) reached an agreement to set up a joint venture to develop X86 chips. The latest news said that the first X86 after the 'marriage' Processor Dhyana (Dynamic) has started production.
In the two years since AMD signed an agreement with Haiguang, both sides have a 'low-key' attitude. There is little news of cooperation and R&D progress. Until last month, a Linux kernel patch appeared from Hygon. The family 18h processor code-named Dhyana (Meditation), AMD and Haiguang's cooperation was once again hotly debated.
Because Family 17h is the AMD Zen architecture processor. Some Linux maintainers transferred the EPYC support code to the Dhyana processor and found that it can run successfully, proving that the two processors are similar, and Linux kernel developers pointed out that Dhyana and EPYC Only the manufacturer ID and the product serial number are different. From the current exposure information, Dhyana and AMD EPYC processor are very similar.
So, for Dhyana, what role does Haiguang and AMD play?
We must first take a closer look at the cooperation model between Haiguang and AMD.
According to sources, AMD licensed x86 and SoC IP for chip development and established two joint ventures with Haiguang (THATIC), namely Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (HMC) and Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit Design Co., Ltd. (Hygon). AMD holds 51% of HMC and 30% of Hygon, and the rest is held by Haiguang. HMC enjoys IP ownership and is responsible for chip production; Hygon is responsible for chip design and sales. It is reported that such cooperation The way is also to bypass the cross-licensing agreement between Intel and AMD in China.
According to foreign media, Hygon used the IP address authorized by HMC to design the x86 chip, then sold the design to HMC. HMC paid the foundry fee to the foundry, and then handed the chip to Hygon for the sales of Dhyana processor.
On the whole, AMD did not sell the final chip design to Haiguang, but licensed IP to Haiguang. Dhyana is the chip designed by Haiguang for the Chinese server market.
According to foreign media, Hygon Dhyana CPU is only sold in China. Due to strong demand in China's data center market, AMD will get a lot of revenue from IP licensing. After AMD signed a cooperation agreement with Haiguang, several analysts said that AMD is likely In the cooperation, the latest Zen architecture is not only to sell a good price, but also to fully tap the potential of the Chinese server market and establish the brand image of Zen in China.
It is worth noting that VIA and Zhaoxin are cooperating, and earlier this year stated that their goal is to create a product that can compete with AMD Ryzen 2 processor by 2019. In the future, Dhyana will compete with Mega X86 processor for China. Server market. At this time, Dhyana started the production news, indicating that the Chinese processor market will be very interesting in 2019.