Chinese branch Arm develops its own AI chips and microarchitecture

The Chinese branch of the British processor designer Arm has laid the foundation for the development of its own AI chip and its own microarchitecture. The Chinese branch is majority owned by Chinese investors.

With the development of proprietary chips and micro-architecture, it is possible for Chinese processor designers to base themselves on Chinese code, Nikkei reports. This is important for producers in the country, because dependence on foreign companies is considered a risk. For example, due to the trade war, Huawei was unable to have contact with the British parent company of Arm for a few months. Huawei leans on Arm for the Cortex microarchitectures in its Kirin socs.

Arm co-founded the Chinese branch with Japan’s Softbank three years ago, but Softbank sold its majority stake to Chinese investors. This means that the development of the technology is under Chinese control, notes Nikkei. The intention is to be able to use these techniques in products worldwide. One of the chips developed makes it possible to run a cryptographic algorithm of the government agency State Cryptography Administration.

Arm China already presented Zhouyi this fall, with which manufacturers such as Huawei can make AI chips for smartphones, wearables and smart speakers. Arm China employs 600 people, of which 500 are technical people. Nevertheless, the Chinese branch cannot do without the British parent company for the time being. In the coming years, China wants to make itself less and less dependent on Western companies for the development of processors and other technology.