上月中國官方啟動(dòng)了一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，旨在定義一個(gè)全國性的處理器架構(gòu)。如果這個(gè)計(jì)劃獲得成功，則任何尋求政府資金支持的項(xiàng)目都可能要求必須采用這種架構(gòu)，比如電腦與智能手機(jī)采購項(xiàng)目。 至少在考慮五種現(xiàn)有的處理器架構(gòu)，作為上述標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的基礎(chǔ)。該計(jì)劃也可以用于定義自己的指令集(ISA)或擴(kuò)展現(xiàn)有的指令集。 在3月召開了中國國家指令集架構(gòu)計(jì)劃的第一次會(huì)議，由工信部官員主持。 來自大約中國20家機(jī)構(gòu)的代表出席了這次會(huì)議，包括通訊業(yè)巨頭華為和中興通訊，以及來自一些科研機(jī)構(gòu)的代表。 這是近期中國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人主抓的幾項(xiàng)計(jì)劃之一，旨在建立中國自己的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)和知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)，擺脫向外國企業(yè)支付專利費(fèi)的局面。中國已經(jīng)制訂了多項(xiàng)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，涉及從CD/DVD播放器到監(jiān)控視頻系統(tǒng)的多個(gè)領(lǐng)域。 以中國為主開發(fā)的第三代移動(dòng)通訊標(biāo)準(zhǔn)TD-SCDMA，是其迄今為止最為突出的成果。雖然這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的結(jié)果目前來看好壞不一，但得到了市場(chǎng)的大力支持。全球最大的運(yùn)營商中國移動(dòng)已開始實(shí)際試驗(yàn)4G標(biāo)準(zhǔn)TD-LTE。 中國多年來一直想制訂自己的處理器標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，推出了主要基于MIPS內(nèi)核的龍芯。觀察家對(duì)于中國最新采取的努力是否能夠成功看法不一。 “我的印象是幾個(gè)月內(nèi)”這個(gè)處理器小組就選定了一種國家標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，MIPS Technologies的業(yè)務(wù)拓展副總裁Robert Bismuth表示，“我實(shí)際上認(rèn)為這件事一定會(huì)發(fā)生?！彼€指出，“龍芯確實(shí)用在了政府部門的系統(tǒng)之中?！? 這可能是一廂情愿。據(jù)報(bào)道，MIPS Technologies營業(yè)收入下降，準(zhǔn)備出售公司?！爸袊袔讉€(gè)基于MIPS的內(nèi)核，但MPS將最終關(guān)門并出售其IP和專利，”一名要求匿名的中國企業(yè)高管表示。 其所在的中國企業(yè)已經(jīng)獲得ARM和PowerPC內(nèi)核許可。他表示，ARM對(duì)于一些中國企業(yè)來說過于昂貴，他們想要成本較低的方案?！拔覀儾荒苤粨碛蠥RM一個(gè)選擇，因此PowerPC得到了機(jī)會(huì)?！? 這名中國高管表示，獲得ARM高端Cortex A9內(nèi)核的許可至少需要500萬美元，這促使至少一個(gè)平板電腦項(xiàng)目選擇了PowerPC和Linux，而放棄了ARM和安卓。 ARM一名高管對(duì)于中國的處理器計(jì)劃表示懷疑。ARM總裁 Tudor Brown在電子郵件中表示，“我們當(dāng)然知道這個(gè)計(jì)劃。這不是新聞，該計(jì)劃已經(jīng)討論了很多很多個(gè)月?！? “我們理解中國擁有自己的ISA的愿望，我們將繼續(xù)提供合作，并與相關(guān)的主要人員討論，以達(dá)成一個(gè)出色的解決方案，”Brown表示，“關(guān)鍵問題不是ISA本身，而是ISA周圍的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)?！彼麖?qiáng)調(diào)了ARM生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的規(guī)模。 “雖然定義一個(gè)ISA是時(shí)間相對(duì)較短的活動(dòng)，但建立和布署一個(gè)有活力的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)則需要較長時(shí)間，”Brown補(bǔ)充道。 實(shí)際上，ARM不僅在移動(dòng)系統(tǒng)方面享有主導(dǎo)地位，而且在中國芯片廠商中也有很強(qiáng)的影響力。據(jù)《EE Times 》2011年末發(fā)表的一份關(guān)于中國芯片設(shè)計(jì)公司的報(bào)告，ARM在中國擁有34個(gè)以上的許可，而MIPS是20多個(gè)。 在電腦領(lǐng)域，英特爾和x86架構(gòu)主導(dǎo)了所有的系統(tǒng)銷售，包括在中國市場(chǎng)。面對(duì)這樣實(shí)力雄厚的巨頭，為一種新的PC或移動(dòng)處理器架構(gòu)建立生態(tài)系統(tǒng)將非常困難。 然而，MIPS的Bismuth表示，中國政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人“希望中國與西方處于平等的地位。”。他說，“他們想建立一種通用的軟件生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，而實(shí)現(xiàn)這點(diǎn)的唯一途徑就是采用一種通用ISA?！? “他們?cè)敢猥@得一種現(xiàn)有架構(gòu)的許可，然后擺脫這種架構(gòu)，他們不是不愿意付錢，”Bismuth表示。 編譯：Luffy Liu 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：China Mulls National CPU Architecture Spec，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} China Mulls National CPU Architecture Spec Rick Merritt China government officials kicked off a program last month that aims to define a national processor architecture. If the initiative is successful, the processor could become a requirement for use in any projects seeking government funding such as purchases of computers or smartphones. At least five existing processor architectures are up for consideration as the basis of the standard. The initiative also could be used to define its own instruction set architecture (ISA) or extend an existing one. Officials of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology hosted the first meeting of the so-called China National Instruction Set Architecture initiative in March. Representatives of about 20 China organizations attended the meeting, including communications giants Huawei and ZTE as well as a number of academic groups. The effort is one of several led by China’s leaders in an effort to set its own standards and thus own intellectual property rather than paying for IP from foreign companies. China has already set its own standards in everything from CD/DVD players to surveillance video systems. The China-led TD-SCDMA standard for third-generation cellular systems was its highest profile effort to date. Results of that effort have so far been mixed, but market traction has been strong enough with China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, that China-led work on a 4G standard, TD-LTE, already in advanced field trials at China Mobile. China has flirted with the idea of its own processor standard for years, especially with its efforts on the Longsoon, or Godson, processor that is roughly based on a MIPS core. Observers were mixed on whether the latest effort will be successful. “I got the impression it’s a matter of months,” before the processor group chooses a national standard, said Robert Bismuth, vice president of business development at MIPS Technologies. “I actually think this will happen,” Bismuth added. “Longsoon is really launching in systems into the government sector.” That could be wishful thinking for the company that is reportedly up for sale at a time of declining revenues. “China has several cores based on MIPS, but MIPS will eventually shut down and sell their IP and patents,” said one China executive who asked not to be named. ARM cores are too expensive for some China electronics companies who want lower cost alternatives, said the China executive who has licensed for ARM and PowerPC cores. “We can’t have just one option of ARM, so PowerPC has an opportunity,” he added. It costs a minimum of $5 million to license ARM’s high-end Cortex A9 core, the executive said. The price tag has driven at least one tablet project to choose PowerPC and Linux over ARM and Android, the China executive said. An ARM executive expressed skepticism about the China processor plan. “We are of course aware of this initiative. It is not new, and has been in discussion for many, many months,” Tudor Brown, president of ARM said in an e-mail exchange. “We understand China’s initial desire to have its own ISA, and we continue to cooperate and discuss with the key people involved to reach a good solution,” Brown said. “A key issue is not the ISA itself, but the ecosystem that surrounds any ISA,” he added, noting the size of ARM’s ecosystem. “While defining an ISA is a relatively short term activity, building and deploying a vibrant ecosystem takes a lot longer,” Brown continued. Indeed, ARM is well entrenched not only in mobile systems where it dominates but also among China’s chip makers. ARM has more than 34 licensees in China while MIPS has more than 20, according to a report on China’s fabless chip designers published by EE Times in late 2011. In the computer sector, Intel and the x86 architecture dominates all system sales, including those in China. Against such established giants, creating an ecosystem for a new PC or mobile processor architecture would be a difficult task. Nevertheless, Chinese government leaders “want China to be on a equal footing with the West,” said Bismuth of MIPS. “They want a common software ecosystem and the only way to get that is with a common ISA,” he said. “They are willing to license an existing architecture and diverge from it--they are not unwilling to pay,” Bismuth added.