As China’s rise in technology continues unabated, local processor manufacturer Loongson is preparing to assert its claim in the global arena.The company has developed its fourth-generation processors codenamed “Three Musketeers” to close the performance gap where it has long lagged behind giants such as Intel and AMD and contribute to China’s technological independence.

Loongson prepares for the “Three Musketeers” processor family

Chinese processor manufacturer Loongson is preparing to launch its fourth generation of processors, codenamed “The Three Musketeers”. Dubbed Loongson 3A6000, 3B6000M and 3C6000, the new processors aim to significantly close the company’s performance gap with competitors such as Intel and AMD.

Loongson is following a development approach it calls “Tock-Tock2-Tick”. This involves two rounds of architecture and design optimization before the processor manufacturing technology is updated. The goal will be to maximize the performance of manufacturing processes similar to the 7nm architecture.

The 3A6000 is already on the market, while the 3B6000M with integrated processing cores is scheduled to be available as a sample next year. The server processor 3C6000 has completed sample testing and is expected to be available in late 2024. Following these, it is also working on versions such as the 3A6600, 3B6600 and 3C6600, the so-called second “Tock” optimization.

In particular, the 3B6600, which is scheduled to be ready for production in the middle of next year, will integrate graphics and processing cores such as the 3B6000M. All fourth-generation chips will feature high-speed PCIe interfaces for connecting to external graphics cards and network devices.