By @tomshardware
Publication Date: 2025-11-28 11:30:00
At the ICC Global CEO Summit in Beijing, China Semiconductor Industry Association vice chairman Wei Shaojun claimed that a new domestically designed AI processor using mature 14nm logic and 18nm DRAM nodes can match the performance of Nvidia’s current 4nm chips. The architecture, which leverages 3D hybrid bonding and software-defined near-memory computing, is intended to counter China’s reliance on the Nvidia CUDA ecosystem.
Wei pitched the design as a potentially disruptive shift away from U.S. dependency, calling it central to China’s AI strategy, but fell short of disclosing any specific technical details, hinting that he would “leave some suspense” for now, DigiTimes reports.
What he did describe was 14nm logic bonded directly to 18nm DRAM to drastically increase memory bandwidth and reduce compute latency. He said the system’s power efficiency reaches 2 TFLOPS per watt, with a claimed total throughput of 120 TFLOPS, which is much higher than Nvidia’s A100 GPUs. He argued that by placing memory and logic in the same package, the chip avoids the “memory wall” that hinders large-scale GPU deployments.
Wei added that the chip is part of a fully domestic supply chain effort and will be formally disclosed in detail later this year. The ultimate goal, he said, is to sidestep Western supply chain constraints, cut costs, and decouple China’s AI development from U.S. vendors at both the hardware and software levels.
