China's Loongson gets OpenStack boost from Inspur on its MIPS-y silicon
(2025/05/06)
- Reference: 1746493211
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/05/06/loongson_inspur_cloudos/
- Source link:
Chinese chip designer Loongson claims more than 100 products now run on its homegrown LoongArch architecture, including an OpenStack-based cloud stack from domestic hyperscale heavyweight Inspur.
Loongson's LoongArch is a proprietary instruction set architecture developed to cut reliance on foreign tech, which is mostly a blend of MIPS and RISC-V. The Chinese chip shop has deployed the ISA in processors powering industrial gear, desktops, and servers. Loongson's silicon is still trailing behind the performance of top-tier x86 and Arm processors, but the gap is closing.
China last year [1]advised local companies to buy chips designed and made by local companies because products from elsewhere are "no longer secure and reliable." Beijing’s latest [2]list of verified secure processors again [3]omits AMD and Intel products, but includes local processors, including two from Loongson.
[4]
That's all well and good for Loongson, but even the most flag-waving user won't touch a chip that can't run the software they need. This is why the biz periodically publishes compatibility lists showing what already works on LoongArch, and what's supposedly coming soon.
[5]
[6]
A previous edition of that list [7]included Lenovo’s hyperconverged stack. The April 2025 [8]update added Inspur’s Cloud Operating System.
[9]China’s chip champ Loongson teases trio of new processors for lappies, factories, maybe servers too
[10]As Alibaba launches server-grade RISC-V CPU, Beijing throws its weight behind ISA
[11]China sends cloud powered by homebrew Loongson CPUs into space
[12]TSMC blows whistle on potential sanctions-busting shenanigans from Huawei
Inspur is a Chinese server maker and cloud infrastructure provider whose clientele has included domestic hyperscalers such as Alibaba and Tencent. The outfit [13]landed on Washington's Entity List in 2023, effectively barring most American tech vendors from supplying it without a license. Even so, Inspur continues to serve a sizeable Chinese customer base, offering both hardware and its [14]InCloud OS stack for IaaS and PaaS deployments - a platform built on [15]OpenStack .
InCloud OS on LoongArch therefore positions Loongson as a potential player in China's hyperscale market, especially if it can deliver the 64-core processor and matching dual-socket server design it recently [16]teased .
Loongson faces competition at home, as Alibaba and Huawei already have their own server processors and cloudy stacks, but both use the Arm architecture.
[17]
China is also adept at promoting its tech companies around the world and is using the current trade war with the USA to position itself as a reliable partner. Loongson could benefit from that, too. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/china_stop_buying_us_chips_advice/
[2] https://www.itsec.gov.cn/aqkkcp/cpgg/202503/t20250314_216512.html
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/25/china_approved_tech_list/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/lenovo_loongson/
[8] https://www.loongson.cn/news/show?id=745
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/04/loongson_cpu_update/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/05/china_alibaba_risc_v_c930/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/24/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/22/tsmc_huawei_sanctions_report/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/11/us_inspur_sanctions/
[14] https://en.inspur.com/en/2822497/index.html
[15] https://www.openstack.org/videos/summits/austin-2016/inspur-inspur-rackscale-open-hardware-platforms-and-incloud-os-available-to-support-openstack
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/04/loongson_cpu_update/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Loongson's LoongArch is a proprietary instruction set architecture developed to cut reliance on foreign tech, which is mostly a blend of MIPS and RISC-V. The Chinese chip shop has deployed the ISA in processors powering industrial gear, desktops, and servers. Loongson's silicon is still trailing behind the performance of top-tier x86 and Arm processors, but the gap is closing.
China last year [1]advised local companies to buy chips designed and made by local companies because products from elsewhere are "no longer secure and reliable." Beijing’s latest [2]list of verified secure processors again [3]omits AMD and Intel products, but includes local processors, including two from Loongson.
[4]
That's all well and good for Loongson, but even the most flag-waving user won't touch a chip that can't run the software they need. This is why the biz periodically publishes compatibility lists showing what already works on LoongArch, and what's supposedly coming soon.
[5]
[6]
A previous edition of that list [7]included Lenovo’s hyperconverged stack. The April 2025 [8]update added Inspur’s Cloud Operating System.
[9]China’s chip champ Loongson teases trio of new processors for lappies, factories, maybe servers too
[10]As Alibaba launches server-grade RISC-V CPU, Beijing throws its weight behind ISA
[11]China sends cloud powered by homebrew Loongson CPUs into space
[12]TSMC blows whistle on potential sanctions-busting shenanigans from Huawei
Inspur is a Chinese server maker and cloud infrastructure provider whose clientele has included domestic hyperscalers such as Alibaba and Tencent. The outfit [13]landed on Washington's Entity List in 2023, effectively barring most American tech vendors from supplying it without a license. Even so, Inspur continues to serve a sizeable Chinese customer base, offering both hardware and its [14]InCloud OS stack for IaaS and PaaS deployments - a platform built on [15]OpenStack .
InCloud OS on LoongArch therefore positions Loongson as a potential player in China's hyperscale market, especially if it can deliver the 64-core processor and matching dual-socket server design it recently [16]teased .
Loongson faces competition at home, as Alibaba and Huawei already have their own server processors and cloudy stacks, but both use the Arm architecture.
[17]
China is also adept at promoting its tech companies around the world and is using the current trade war with the USA to position itself as a reliable partner. Loongson could benefit from that, too. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/china_stop_buying_us_chips_advice/
[2] https://www.itsec.gov.cn/aqkkcp/cpgg/202503/t20250314_216512.html
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/25/china_approved_tech_list/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/lenovo_loongson/
[8] https://www.loongson.cn/news/show?id=745
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/04/loongson_cpu_update/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/05/china_alibaba_risc_v_c930/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/24/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/22/tsmc_huawei_sanctions_report/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/11/us_inspur_sanctions/
[14] https://en.inspur.com/en/2822497/index.html
[15] https://www.openstack.org/videos/summits/austin-2016/inspur-inspur-rackscale-open-hardware-platforms-and-incloud-os-available-to-support-openstack
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/04/loongson_cpu_update/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBmJYOvH73AXWV_L7pV5ewAAAQ4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/