China’s Chip Self-Sufficiency: 24 Years of Loongson Progress

On August 10, 2002, a small room at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Computing Technology in Beijing erupted in cheers as the words “login:” appeared on a computer screen powered by the Loongson 1 — China’s first domestically developed general-purpose CPU. Twenty-four years later, Xinhua News marked the anniversary with a photographic retrospective challenging the long-held skepticism about whether China can produce its own chips.

From “Lacking Chips and Souls” to National Priority

The journey began against a backdrop of technological isolation. In the 1990s, major Western countries signed the Wassenaar Arrangement, imposing a comprehensive technology blockade on China that included advanced computing technology. As the South China Morning Post noted, the arrangement has long been viewed in China as hostile and humiliating, serving as a driving force for Beijing’s push toward self-reliance.

In 1999, then-Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua delivered a stark assessment: “China’s information industry lacks chips and souls.” The declaration captured the nation’s vulnerability — without domestic CPU capability, Chinese computer systems were built on foreign foundations.

Despite internal debates over whether China should develop its own processors, the Chinese Academy of Sciences committed 10 million yuan to launch the Loongson project. Researchers including Hu Weiwu, Huang Lingyi, and Tang Zhimin took on the challenge, with Hu reportedly making a military oath to complete the task. Huang Lingyi’s declaration — “My greatest wish in this lifetime is to crawl on the ground and wipe away the shame on my motherland” — became a symbol of Chinese chip researchers’ dedication.

A Timeline of Milestones

The Loongson 1’s successful boot in 2002 marked the first step from zero to one in China’s independent CPU development. What followed was a steady stream of achievements across multiple semiconductor sectors:

• 2005: China’s domestically designed digital TV chip, the Zhongshi No. 1, passed expert appraisal in Shanghai, followed by Hisense’s self-developed Xin Core TV chip.
• 2011: Chinese researchers demonstrated a phase-change random access memory (PCRAM) chip with independent intellectual property, and Beidou application chips were exhibited at the 2nd China Satellite Navigation Academic Annual Conference.
• 2016: A silicon-substrate LED chip emitting bright blue light made China the third country in the world — after Japan and the US — to master this independent intellectual property technology.
• 2017: Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun introduced Xiaomi’s first self-developed chip, the Surge S1, at a launch event in Beijing.
• 2019: Huawei’s self-developed 5G base station chipset was displayed at the Digital Expo.
• 2023: China’s new-generation general-purpose CPU, the Loongson 3A6000, was officially released in Beijing.

The “Dog-Surviving” Chip That Endured

Researchers affectionately nicknamed the Loongson chip “Gousheng” (dog-surviving) — a traditional Chinese practice of giving children humble names to ensure they thrive. As Sina News reported, the nickname reflected a belief that genuine innovation requires patience and endurance rather than flashy beginnings.

The Loongson project faced numerous challenges over two decades: the “Hanxin” scandal that cast doubt on domestic chip claims, missteps in processor architecture, temptations of foreign joint ventures, and the difficulty of building a software ecosystem around a domestic instruction set architecture.

Despite these obstacles, the latest Loongson 3A6000 desktop processor has surpassed 1 million units shipped to mainstream industry customers, according to MyDrivers. Its performance is roughly equivalent to Intel’s 10th-generation Core processors from 2020, marking the transition of domestic CPUs from “usable” to “good to use.” The Loongson 3C6000, released in June 2025, uses China’s self-designed LoongArch instruction set architecture, requiring no foreign technology licensing.

Storage and Memory Breakthroughs

The momentum extends beyond CPUs. In July 2026, ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) listed on the STAR Market, setting the largest IPO record in the board’s history. As Science and Technology Daily reported, CXMT’s DRAM global market share reached nearly 8% in Q1 2026, ranking fourth globally and breaking the long-standing monopoly of Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. The company achieved profitability in 2025 after years of losses, supported by patient capital from Hefei state investment.

Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), focused on 3D NAND flash with its self-developed Xtacking architecture, is also accelerating its IPO process, creating what analysts describe as a “DRAM + NAND” dual-leader structure for China’s storage chip industry.

AI Chips and Lithography: The Next Frontier

China’s AI chip self-sufficiency has surged to over 40% in 2026, up from 20% in 2023, driven primarily by Huawei’s Ascend 910C and 950PR chips. In May 2026, BYD unveiled its first self-developed 4nm autonomous driving chip, the Xuanji A3, delivering 700 TOPS per chip to support L3/L4 autonomous driving.

Perhaps most significantly, reports in July 2026 indicated China had begun mass production of domestically developed immersion DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography machines. According to Vision Times, about 5 units are expected this year, increasing to 20 in 2027. The development triggered significant market turmoil, with Taiwan’s TAIEX falling 2,030 points and South Korea’s KOSPI plunging nearly 11%.

The 80% Self-Sufficiency Target

China has set an ambitious target of 80% semiconductor self-sufficiency by 2030. According to StoryChase, 13 Chinese chip industry executives, including Chen Nanxiang of Yangtze Memory and Zhao Jinrong of Naura, drafted the plan. The 80% threshold — rather than 100% — signals pragmatism: China will still import advanced chips for cutting-edge applications while domesticating mid-range and legacy production.

However, challenges remain. Chinese chip fabs still lag behind TSMC and Samsung in node density and yield rates. Building a robust software ecosystem around domestic chips like Loongson remains a major challenge. In advanced memory markets such as HBM, overseas giants still dominate.

A Marathon, Not a Sprint

Hu Weiwu, the “Father of Loongson,” has cautioned against unrealistic expectations: “People who don’t understand domestic chips are very impatient, thinking that with national investment, we can catch up with Intel in five years.” The reality, he noted, is that this is a marathon without a visible finish line.

At the Loongson 3C6000 launch in June 2025, the theme “Today We Hold the Long Rope” quoted Mao Zedong’s poem “Qing Ping Yue - Liupan Mountain,” whose next line asks, “When will we bind the gray dragon?” The message was clear: China’s chip industry has come a long way in 24 years, but the fight for technological self-sufficiency continues.

As Xinhua’s retrospective concludes, the story of China’s chips is one of perseverance — from the embarrassment of lacking chips and souls, through the pain of being choked at the neck, to the emergence of batch after batch of domestic chips. The question is no longer whether China can make its own chips, but how far it can push the boundaries of what its domestic semiconductor industry can achieve.