Next-Gen Loongson 8-Core CPUs To Feature Performance On Par With Intel’s 12th Gen Core i7 & Core i5 Chips

Loongson has revealed that its next-gen CPUs will be able to match Intel's 12th Gen Core i7 & Core i5 CPUs, propelling the domestic Chinese PC market to new heights.

During an interview with Loongson's CEO, Hu Weiwu, with local Chinese media, it was highlighted that the upcoming CPUs from the chipmaker are going to be a major upgrade. Currently, Loongson offers its 8-core 3A6000 CPU which offers performance close to Intel's 10th Gen & AMD's Zen 2 core architectures. The company also recently previewed its 3B6600 and 3B7000 CPUs for PCs that use an 8-core design and are built on the same process node as the 3A6000 CPUs.

Loongson now states that its next-generation CPUs are expected to launch next year and currently target a 20-30% performance gain over 3A6000 with the final silicon potentially reaching up to 50% performance gain while utilizing the same 8-core layout. Although the company hasn't shared any details in regards to specifications for its next-generation CPUs, what the CEO did reveal was the performance projection.

It is currently highlighted that Loongson expects its 2025 Domestic CPUs for Chinese markets to hit the same levels of performance as Intel's 12th-gen CPUs. While the last-generation CPUs have only been able to reach Core i3 performance, the next-gen chips are expected to compete favorably against the high-end Core i7 and Core i5 CPUs.

Having performance on par with an Alder Lake Core i7 will be a major breakthrough for China's PC market and with Raptor Lake being a small bump vs Alder Lake, we can expect future optimized variants of Loongson's next-gen CPUs with higher clock speeds to be competitive against those too. That will also be Zen 3 to Zen 4 level of performance, potentially matching or coming close to the likes of the Ryzen 7 7700X, a popular 8-core chip.

The biggest benefit of these next-gen Loongson CPUs will be their price-to-performance ratio which is expected to far exceed that of competing products from AMD & Intel. This should make the CPUs a viable alternative for the Chinese domestic market which has been hit with wide restrictions from the US. The Chinese government has also replaced PCs within state-owned institutes with domestic CPU options.