AMD Halts Further x86 Technology Licensing to China

[Raevenlord]

AMD Lisa Su at Computex 2019 confirmed to Tom's hardware that the company wasn't licensing anymore of its x86 IP portfolio to China-based companies. AMD entered a technology license agreement with China's Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. Ltd. (THATIC) in 2016. As part of the agreement to license its x86 and SoC IP for chip development, AMD received a cash infusion worth $293 million (plus royalties).

As a result, Chinese chipmaker Hygon started delivering their "Dhyana" CPUs, which looked like copies of AMD's Zen-based Epyc chips with added, Chinese-government approved cryptographic capabilities. AMD had to go through some hoops to get this deal done, but it did. However, now the technology refinement pipe is draining for the Chinese companies, as AMD won't be delivering its post-Zen updates to the core design. It remains to be seen if AMD's intellectual property was enough for Chinese companies to ignite their own in-country CPU development, or if the ongoing US-China trade war will keep on draining the company of CPU independence.



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[Ferrum Master]

Who knows, maybe they left few backdoors for NSA and it is a masterplan in the end .

 

[ZoneDymo]

honestly, look at the car industry, China will soon not even need anyone else

 

[XiGMAKiD]

China should push their own Loongson instead of x86

 

[ArchStupid]

China should push their own Loongson instead of x86

How about we refrain from giving them tips in this particular topic.

 

[medi01]

Hm, I thought Intel/AMD deal didn't allow to pass CPU rights to third parties.

China should push their own Loongson instead of x86

Russia promised "pentium killer" in 90s, got this more than a decade later.

 

[TheGuruStud]

honestly, look at the car industry, China will soon not even need anyone else

Yeah, GM is going to produce all of their garbage there lol. They fit right in with the local quality.

 

[ncrs]

honestly, look at the car industry, China will soon not even need anyone else

They are already there:

• 64-core ARM CPUs on 7nm capable of running in 4-way SMP with possibility of 32 sockets
• custom in-house chipset
• custom in-house storage controllers
• custom in-house network including high speed data center networking
• custom in-house BMC + RAS

What do they need western tech for again?

 

[cellar door]

honestly, look at the car industry, China will soon not even need anyone else

You think that any of the cars they make are any good? TopGear guys did a special on the Chinese auto industry - spoiler alert *all their cars are garbage*

 

[XiGMAKiD]

How about we refrain from giving them tips in this particular topic.

Oops my bad

Hm, I thought Intel/AMD deal didn't allow to pass CPU rights to third parties.



Russia promised "pentium killer" in 90s, got this more than a decade later.

They want more tech independence from western countries and they got it, it's a win for them

You think that any of the cars they make are any good? TopGear guys did a special on the Chinese auto industry - spoiler alert *all their cars are garbage*

And the garbageman got called into trade war by superpower leader

 

[kapone32]

honestly, look at the car industry, China will soon not even need anyone else

It is like that Season ending story Arc about the Borg on Stark Trek Enterprise. China has been self sufficient for some time. I will give you that 3 years ago you could go on a Chinese website and buy consumer electronics for a percentage of what you pay in the West. Today those sites are just as expensive as their Western counterparts. China has more highways in terms of miles than the USA. The HOV lanes are made for semis and not passenger vehicles. They have many factories over a mile long. About 7 years ago there was an accident on one of the main highways, it took 2 weeks to clear the traffic snarl. No one living in the West has any rationalization for anything like that.

 

[mtcn77]

As a bystander in this so called trade-war, I think China is just simply better at the Christianity game than you folk, no offence. All your major leaders are married into them - that is how Christianity spreads. You may stop them, but you will only hurt the family constitution. Ask how they feel about this beforehand, maybe?

 

[Steevo]

You think that any of the cars they make are any good? TopGear guys did a special on the Chinese auto industry - spoiler alert *all their cars are garbage*

All socialist produced mass manufacturing is garbage, it's only good contribution has been weapons of war. There is no competition so no need to improve or better the product offered.

 

[ZoneDymo]

You think that any of the cars they make are any good? TopGear guys did a special on the Chinese auto industry - spoiler alert *all their cars are garbage*

then you have not been paying attention to that special really.
They said that like 10 years ago that made stuff like that crappy 3 wheeler they drove, and now they make stuff that will be rebadged in Europe under different brands like Rover.

Jeremy Clarkson himself in that special said "I'm telling you, we in Britain are doomed, we're doomed"

Because China is manufacture of everything they have connections with everything and can adept super quickly.
If Murica blocks its companies from doing business with China, China will just do it themselves and not need anyone anymore.

All socialist produced mass manufacturing is garbage, it's only good contribution has been weapons of war. There is no competition so no need to improve or better the product offered.

Dont tell me you actually think China is legit communism.....

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

then you have not been paying attention to that special really.
They said that like 10 years ago that made stuff like that crappy 3 wheeler they drove, and now they make stuff that will be rebadged in Europe under different brands like Rover.

Jeremy Clarkson himself in that special said "I'm telling you, we in Britain are doomed, we're doomed"

Because China is manufacture of everything they have connections with everything and can adept super quickly.
If Murica blocks its companies from doing business with China, China will just do it themselves and not need anyone anymore.



Don't tell me you actually think China is legit communism.....

Innovation is key, and it's something China lacks, others will adjust to succeed(UK, America, etc) or they won't, shrug.

I'm not liking any of this as a UK citizen, But just listen to the rhetoric coming out of China about Taiwan and many other things, they're a big country trying to force their way on others while being communist or whatever "having a fake Emperor type thing they are", it is not comforting?.

The media eh, sall fake news anyways.

 

[the54thvoid]

All socialist produced mass manufacturing is garbage, it's only good contribution has been weapons of war. There is no competition so no need to improve or better the product offered.

British Steel was renowned as the best in the world when it was state subsidised. Then it was privatised. Now we don't have that industry. But it's not because it's inferior. It's because capitalist systems demand the lowest cost products, usually at the expense of quality. Socialism and capitalism both fail on the same metric - greed.

 

[Vya Domus]

Here is the thing, China can start making their own x86 chips at any given time, there is no secret sauce. The only reason this hasn't gained that much traction is exactly because of the recent events, they can't risk a major ban on foreign IP. China may be able to make a lot of things but they can't come up with literally everything that there is.

 

[kapone32]

As a bystander in this so called trade-war, I think China is just simply better at the Christianity game than you folk, no offence. All your major leaders are married into them - that is how Christianity spreads. You may stop them, but you will only hurt the family constitution. Ask how they feel about this beforehand, maybe?

Innovation is key, and it's something China lacks, others will adjust to succeed(UK, America, etc) or they won't, shrug.

I'm not liking any of this as a UK citizen, But just listen to the rhetoric coming out of China about Taiwan and many other things, they're a big country trying to force their way on others while being communist or whatever "having a fake Emperor type thing they are", it is not comforting?.

The media eh, sall fake news anyways.

What is happening with China now should have happened 15 years ago. Now we are all under the heel of China so much product comes out of China they had to widen the Panama Canal. It also indirectly led to the explosion of Lionfish in the Atalantic.

British Steel was renowned as the best in the world when it was state subsidised. Then it was privatised. Now we don't have that industry. But it's not because it's inferior. It's because capitalist systems demand the lowest cost products, usually at the expense of quality. Socialism and capitalism both fail on the same metric - greed.

"The love of money is the root of all evil" hehe

 

[TesterAnon]

VIA is the only hope China has left then.

 

[xkm1948]

These recent trade/tech war news and reactions has been very fun especially in social media.

Just a while ago: Trump is bad Trump is trash, open boarders, tolerance and etc.

Then comes trade war: OMGosh China is bad! Yeah ban them! USA USA USA!

This is especially funny for some of my uber liberal friends that absolutely hates anything Trump.

However when you focus on the dynamics, a lot of the underlying influence is from Mainstream Media. It has been and will always be like this. Too bad the general education system has been doing its best in eliminating critical thinking capability from the younger generation. Instead of logics and independent thinking, we are promoting feelings. Guess it is always easier to rule sheeples

 

[FordGT90Concept]

If the Department of Commerce didn't force their hand, they would have done it anyway because the optics are bad. No one wants to be seen being helpful to China right now.

 

[OSdevr]

Here is the thing, China can start making their own x86 chips at any given time, there is no secret sauce.

They couldn't until recently. Building a CPU for a given instruction set is easy but making it perform well is a massive amount of R&D work.

However Tom's Hardware says that AMD gave the Chinese the design on the register transfer level. Basically AMD just gave them the full design and now there is little preventing the Chinese from making their own Zen chips.

 

[XiGMAKiD]

Innovation is key, and it's something China lacks...

Currently yes, but who knows what they'll come up with 10 years from now.

10 years ago Chinese brand product is junk, now they have brands with decent quality.

 

[mtcn77]

They couldn't until recently. Building a CPU for a given instruction set is easy but making it perform well is a massive amount of R&D work.

However Tom's Hardware says that AMD gave the Chinese the design on the register transfer level. Basically AMD just gave them the full design and now there is little preventing the Chinese from making their own Zen chips.

You cannot produce hardware without silicon plants. Advanced designs need inhouse production to meet specifications. AMD may have given the keys, but without the drive, what use then?

 

[dorsetknob]

Dont tell me you actually think China is legit communism.

Chinaunism.