An international business partnership was announced yesterday to promote application and marketing of Loongson processors, previously known as Godson series, China's first home-grown computer central processing unit (CPU).

The Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, inventor of the processors, will join forces with STMicroelectronics (ST), one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, to sell Loongson 2E/2F in the Chinese market, according to a five-year agreement they signed yesterday in Beijing.

And ST is franchised to manufacture and sell the processors worldwide.

"Currently, the more possible market for Loongson is the mainland China. But it is too early to predict what the market will be in the future," said Gian Luca Bertino, vice- president of ST.

Li Guojie, director of the institute, said Loongson processors would mainly target the low-cost computer market to attract those consumers who never had experience with computers before, instead of the mainstream Intel-dominant market for people with higher incomes.

The director said personally, he considered computers costing 1,000 to 2,000 yuan ($129- 259) acceptable for low-income earners.

A previous report with Xinhua said the chip, supporting Linux, would be priced at about 1,000 yuan ($129) each. But Li declined to confirm.

"Professional users, super computers and new applications such as set-top boxes are also our primary targets," he added.

Loongson 2E is the newest version available for mass production of the Loongson series of microchips, which was originally launched in 2002. The series is known in Chinese as "Longxin" (Dragon Chip).

It is said to be able to rival the early-series Intel Pentium IV processor in performance, but lower in both the cost and power consumption of computers by a wide margin.

Bertino said ST saw more market chances in Loongson 2F, which is expected to hit the market in the latter half of this year and boasts a further 40 percent increase in power consumption than Loongson 2E.

The institute also clinched agreements with some domestic computer-related companies including Lenovo and Dawning Information Industry on the development of Loongson-based personal computers, software, security solutions and various applications.

Jiangsu Province also promised to promote the use of 10,000 Loongson-based low-cost computers in some local areas.

(China Daily 03/29/2007 page4)