Chinese media: Zhaoxin KX-6000 CPU performs equivalent to Core i5-7400

According to Chinese media, new processors from chip company Zhaoxin outperform their predecessors by 50 percent and are now at a comparable level to Intel’s Core i5-7400.

The Shanghai Observer calls the introduction of the Zhaoxin KX-6000 and the Kaisheng KH-30000 a major breakthrough for the Chinese semiconductor industry. They are both x86 processors with a clock speed of 3GHz that are produced at 16nm. The KX-6000 is an octacore developed for the PC market and should appear in desktops, laptops and embedded systems, the KH-30000 is made for servers. They support ddr4 3200 ram and also include a gpu. Many details are not known. In any case, the chips will be promoted for use within government agencies and financial institutions.

The performance and consumption of the KX-6000 chips would have been improved to make them suitable for laptops. It is not known what the tdp is. The chip would perform equivalent to a Core i5-7400, a seventh-generation Intel desktop quad-core aka Kaby Lake. The Core i5-7400 appeared in early 2017 and also has a clock speed of 3GHz, with boost to 3.5GHz and TDP of 65W. According to the Chinese Global Times, Zhaoxin has narrowed the gap between the Chinese chipmakers and their international, mostly American, competitors with the introduction.

It is impossible to verify whether the reported claims are correct, but Zhaoxin’s ambitions have been high for years. In early 2018, the company announced its commitment to support DDR5 and PCI-E 4.0 with upcoming x86 CPUs. Since the Zhaoxin KX-6000 and the Kaisheng KH-30000 are produced at 16nm, there also seems to be the necessary stretch to improve performance and consumption. Since the end of May, CPU-Z has been supporting Zhaoxin’s processors.

CPU-Z screenshot of the Zhaoxin KX-5640 quadcore at 28nm