Chinese chip maker Zhaoxin has been producing x86 computer processors for the past few years, and now the company is looking to expand into the graphics processor space.

As noted by CnTechPost, Zhaoxin released a video recently that included a peek at the company’s product roadmap, which includes a “standalone GPU.”

The upcoming graphics processor is expected to be a 70-watt GPU manufactured using TSMC’s 28nm processor and it should offer a significant performance boost for gaming or 3D design work when compared to the integrated graphics available in the latest Zhaoxin CPUs.

Zhaoxin chips are primarily designed for use within China, where the Chinese government has been encouraging development of home-grown PC components in order to reduce reliance on US-based companies such as Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA.

The company was founded in 2013 as a joint venture between the government of Shanghai and VIA Technologies, a company that has a license to manufacture x86 processors. While the company has made significant strides in the past few years, Zhaoxin chips still have a way to go to catch up to AMD and Intel in terms of performance.

Meanwhile, the company is hardly alone in developing alternatives to Intel and AMD chips for desktop and laptop computers. It’s just that most other alternatives aren’t using x86 architecture. Huawei’s Kunpeng 920 processor for desktop PCs and servers, for example, is an ARM-based processor. And Apple plans to use ARM-based processors when it begins transitioning its Mac computers from Intel to Apple Silicon later this year.

Recent rumors suggest that Apple will also develop its own GPUs for upcoming Mac computers. Intel is also planning to launch its own discrete graphics cards soon.

So Zhaoxin may be in good company as it prepares to enter the discrete GPU space.

via Tom’s Hardware

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