China’s Loongson 9A1000 GPU enters the GPU market with AI-ready hardware
Loongson Technology has officially completed development of its first dedicated graphics card, the Loongson 9A1000 GPU, and is preparing for mass production in Q3 2025. Known primarily as a CPU manufacturer, this marks a major milestone for the company as it pushes into the GPU sector to strengthen China’s independent semiconductor market amid rising competition from the United States.
The Loongson 9A1000 GPU is positioned as an entry-level graphics card with performance expected to rival the AMD Radeon RX 550, which launched in 2017 with around 1.2 TFLOPS FP32 computing power. While modest compared to modern GPUs, the 9A1000 is designed with edge AI and embedded systems in mind, supporting up to 40 TOPS of AI acceleration. This makes it suitable for everyday computing as well as lightweight scientific workloads.
Technologically, the 9A1000 supports OpenGL 4.0 and OpenCL ES 3.2, while featuring stream processor enhancements that reduce area by 20 percent, boost frequency by 25 percent, and cut power consumption by 70 percent under light workloads. These improvements make it a significant step up from Loongson’s previous integrated graphics, laying the foundation for future GPGPU development even if it still lags behind global competitors.
Experts note that the 9A1000 will not directly compete with AMD or Nvidia’s mainstream GPUs. The RX 550 itself was criticized at launch for being underpowered, yet for Loongson this release represents a strategic starting point. In the domestic market, where self-reliant semiconductor solutions are in high demand, the 9A1000 is a critical move, especially following rival Lisuan’s G100 which aimed for RTX 4060-level performance.
Loongson has ambitious plans for its roadmap. The upcoming Loongson 9A2000 GPU is expected to be 8 to 10 times more powerful, rivaling Nvidia’s RTX 2080 and capable of running modern titles like Black Myth: Wukong. Built on a 12–14nm process by SMIC, it will eventually transition to 5nm and 7nm nodes in the future Loongson 9A3000 GPU, which could target high-performance compute levels similar to Nvidia’s A100 or H100 accelerators.
This first step is not only about technical progress but also about reducing dependence on foreign chips. If Loongson succeeds in refining drivers and delivering stable real-world performance, the 9A1000 could ignite a new wave of GPU competition in Asia, signaling a shift toward greater semiconductor independence.
