[ad_1]
This is how AMD missed all the obstacles. The first specimens of x86 "Dhyana" processors, based on AMD Zen architecture, from the Chinese company Hygon began to appear. These systems were created through x86 licenses that AMD has passed on to its partners in China. They also break the ten-year x86 exclusivity period maintained by three companies – Intel, AMD and VIA Technologies.
Up to now, the puzzle was how AMD managed to launch this project without breaking the licensing agreements with Intel regarding x86 processors. It seems that the company has found a way to sell x86 architecture-based Zen architecture projects to Chinese entities. AMD's official statements indicate that the company does not sell Chinese-ready projects for its processors. Instead, AMD gives them the opportunity to design their own chips for the Chinese server market. However, it turns out that the Hygon "Dhyana" processors are so similar to the AMD Epyc series that the Linux kernel developers show that the only differences between them are the hardware identifiers. Linux Linux kernel code elements can be directly ported to support "Dhyana" chips without any change.
Checking the price of the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X processor
China's new, long-overdue processors are a result of Chinese authorities' concerns over the whereabouts of the massive trade war that US President Donald Trump will bring to the country? In China, it is feared that at some point, producing its own processors is a strategic necessity. It should be remembered that already in 2015 the administration of the former President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama, banned Intel from selling processors to China for fear of be used to develop nuclear programs. This slowed Chinese progress and forced them to look for other sources. After the emergence of Epyc processors, AMD could try to sell them to the Chinese, but they would probably suffer the same fate as Xeona.
The solution has proven to be a franchise in China, where the Chinese can design and sell X86 processors themselves, bypassing not only the legal regulations in the United States, but also the restrictions resulting from it. 39, license exchange with Intel. Now we know a lot about how it has been treated.
Check the ranking of the most popular AMD and Intel processors
AMD in 2016 announced that it has created a joint venture in China, which was to be financially the total amount of $ 293 million, because this resulted in losses for six consecutive quarters. However, AMD will rebound by selling commissions on units sold as soon as their shipments reach a mass scale.
Under the license agreement, AMD established a joint venture in China called Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co. Ltd. (THATIC) and agreed to license this entity's intellectual property for the x86 processors and concerned SoC systems. It should be noted that THATIC is composed of private enterprises and states, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, closely associated with the Chinese authorities. As reported by mydrivers, THATIC has created two other joint venture – Haiguang Microelectronics Co. Ltd. (HMC) and Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit Design Co., Ltd. (Hygon). If you think it's already a lot of twists, then something else can add to this confusion. Well, AMD holds 51% of HMC, while Tianjin Haiguang Holdings holds 49%. In Hygon, the situation is different. AMD holds a 30% stake and Tianjin Haiguang Holdings 70%
HMC maintains licenses granted by AMD and participates in the production of processors, which is necessary to comply with the terms of the Intel-AMD licensing agreement, because the intellectual property remains in the entity that controls AMD. However, AMD transfers its intellectual property with the idea that the target entity will use it to design "its own products that directly meet the requirements of the Chinese server market." In order to continue under the Intel-AMD Interchangeable Licensing Regulations, HMC transfers AMD's intellectual property to Hygon, which runs the processor designs, and these come back, as sales, to HMC. HMC is now responsible for producing processors, and therefore end products (probably China Foundries or TSMC). As if the confusion was not enough, the HMC sends the processors Hygon (the one who designed them) to sell them on the market. It is interesting to note that, to meet the contracts on the Intel-AMD line, these processors can only be sold in China.
All this has been prepared so that AMD can gain a huge advantage in China over Intel, that they retain only restrictions on the US side, but also on the side of the Chinese authorities, who will probably want cooperate with AMD, in order to implement the assumptions of the initiative Made in China 2025, under which the government wants to promote Chinese products. AMD can therefore benefit from the sale of any processor using the licenses granted. It should be kept in mind however that AMD can not feel totally confident. The Chinese authorities are also closely involved in a completely different joint venture, namely Zhaoxin Semiconductor, which works on its own x86 processors, in cooperation with VIA Technologies. It can be assumed that the constructions developed with VIA Technologies are unlikely to compete with "Dhyana" systems, ie on the server market, but the Chinese are known for their ingenuity and can change their minds. at any time.
Source link
