bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Che Pan

A Chinese chip designer, whose mission has been to reduce the country’s reliance on Intel and AMD, is trying to develop its own general-purpose graphic processing unit (GPU) despite being added to a US trade blacklist.
Loongson Technology Corp, whose founder Hu Weiwu used to cite Mao Zedong to express his aspirations, is evaluating the advanced 7-nanometre process from a number of foundries to manufacture its future chips, according to a response from the company this week to investor questions.
The new chips would include GPUs like those supplied by industry leader Nvidia, which is now restricted from selling its high-end chips to Chinese customers, and central processing units (CPUs), which is a market long-dominated by Intel and AMD.
The Loongson comments come a week after the Beijing-based chip designer, whose Chinese name translates to “dragon chips”, was added by the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to the Entity List, along with 26 other mainland entities. US exporters must apply for special permits from Washington to sell products to companies on the list.
China’s semiconductor output shrinks 17 per cent in first 2 months of 2023
For Shanghai-listed Loongson, however, its stated mission has always been reducing China’s reliance on US technologies. As investors flooded the official inquiry platform run by the Shanghai Stock Exchange with questions on its product development and the impact of US sanctions, Loongson said the latest restrictions will not have any “material impact”, according to publicly-available records.
The US sanctions on Loongson are less extensive than what the US imposed on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co, but the chip designer’s efforts to procure foundry services could be undermined if US-origin technologies are used in the manufacturing processes, analysts said.
“If a fabless company has no access to the best process nodes, why bother designing cutting edge chips,” said Stewart Randall, head of electronics and embedded software at consultancy Intralink.
Loongson launched its home-grown 3A5000 central processing unit (CPU) at the end of 2020, which was made on a now-restricted process node of 14-nm, according to its prospectus for a Shanghai initial public offering last year, in which it raised 2.46 billion yuan (US$357 million).

From 2019 to 2021, the company procured over half of its chip manufacturing from an unnamed foundry code-named BP00, its prospectus showed. Loongson warned at the time that its foundry supply could be disrupted due to “radical changes” in the global geopolitical landscape.
In China, the only foundry capable of producing 14-nm chips is Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC). SMIC was reportedly able to produce a 7-nm chip last year, but the Shanghai-based company has never officially denied or admitted to the breakthrough.
The Chinese semiconductor industry is betting that more support is on its way, after the central government pledged to mobilise more resources to further support the development of technologies seen crucial amid intensifying US-China tech rivalry.
As part of a broader reform plan , Beijing sanctioned an overhaul of the Ministry of Science and Technology during the country’s annual political gatherings which concluded earlier this week. The restructuring will strip some mandates from the ministry and force it to be laser focused on turning scientific research into technologies for industry production, Sun Yutao, a economics professor at Dalian University of Technology, was quoted as saying by Chinese media Caixin.
However, chip sector insiders said the foreign reliance, especially on advanced tools and high-end materials, was hard to reduce in the short term.
China taps new Big Fund president in wake of corruption scandals: report
Loongson originated in 2001 as a research team under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the country’s apex of scientific and technological research. It was spun out as a separate entity in 2010 to commercialise its chip development research.
The business runs itself as a so-called fabless company, which mainly provides CPUs, its own chip-based servers and an instruction set architecture (ISA) known as Loongson Architecture (LoongArch), based on the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles which govern the basic computing rules of a CPU.
Loongson licensed technologies from US-based MIPS Computer Systems in 2011 and 2017, enabling it to develop, produce and sell chips based on the MIPS instruction set architecture. MIPS ISA-based chips accounted for 70 per cent of Loongson’s total sales from 2019 to 2021, according to its prospectus.
It suspended the renewal of the MIPS licence agreement in April 2020 due to an intellectual property dispute with a Shanghai-based semiconductor IP company called CIP United.
CIP United took Loongson to court, alleging that both LoongArch and the 3A5000 CPU infringed on its copyright after CIP United acquired an IP portfolio from MIPS. The lawsuits, involving 60 million yuan, are still being processed in a Beijing civil court, according to a Loongson stock filing in March.
Loongsoon has pivoted to its Loongson Architecture in the development of its next-generation CPUs, labelled the 3A6000 and 3A7000. The company said its architecture is compatible with Intel’s proprietary X86 architecture, Arm’s instruction set, and the open-sourced RISC-V, which has seen growing interest among Chinese firms amid ongoing US-China tensions.
The company said it aims to build an “independent ecosystem” with its Loongson Architecture, Loongnix operating system, CPUs and IP to compete with the dominant Arm-Google Android and Intel-Microsoft ecosystems, according to its prospectus.


Tech war: China’s flagship CPU designer Loongson puts on a brave face amid US sanctions

Loongson is China’s home-grown designer of central processing units, reducing the country’s reliance on Intel and AMD. Photo: Shutterstock

This photo dated Oct. 24, 2013, shows Loongson founder Hu Weiwu delivering a speech at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei province. Photo: Imaginechina via AFP

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Loongson said it is evaluating the advanced 7-nm process from a number of foundries to manufacture its future chips, which include GPUs
The company launched its home-grown 3A5000 CPU at the end of 2020, which was made on a now-restricted process node of 14-nm


Chinese chip designer Loongson, which has tried to reduce the country’s reliance on Intel and AMD, is developing its own general-purpose GPU despite being added to a US trade blacklist.


Tech war: China’s flagship CPU designer Loongson puts on a brave face amid US sanctions

Loongson said it is evaluating the advanced 7-nm process from a number of foundries to manufacture its future chips, which include GPUs The company launched its home-grown 3A5000 CPU at the end of 2020, which was made on a now-restricted process node of 14-nm

Loongson said it is evaluating the advanced 7-nm process from a number of foundries to manufacture its future chips, which include GPUs

The company launched its home-grown 3A5000 CPU at the end of 2020, which was made on a now-restricted process node of 14-nm