China's SpacemiT develops 64-core RISC-V datacenter CPU — 12nm chip allegedly performs like a 10-year old Xen or Opteron but with higher core count

SpacemiT, a China-based CPU developer, has introduced the VitalStone V100, a server processor with up to 64 RISC-V cores, reports Heise Online. While the CPU is aimed at modern workloads, the single-thread performance of the processor is comparable to outdated Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron processors.

SpacemiT's VitalStone V100 processor is largely based on the OpenC910 project design, which is already used by Alibaba's T-Head Xuantie C910 processor. The X100 4-issue 12-stage out-of-order cores in the VitalStone V100 were developed in-house by SpacemiT. They are compliant with the RVA23 core specification and support 256-bit vector processing, standardized hypervisors and IOMMU (input-output memory management units), protection against certain side-channel attacks like Spectre or Meltdown, and RISC-V Boot and Runtime Services (BRS), which define how processors boot and interface with firmware and operating systems. The processor is made on a 12nm-class process technology and its maximum frequency is 2.50 GHz.

Performance-wise, each X100 core achieves a SPEC CINT2006 integer score of 9, translating to a total of 22.5 points at 2.5 GHz, according to Heise. This places it on par with older processors like the Intel Xeon E5520 (2.27 GHz, 24.1 points) and AMD Opteron 6212 (2.6 GHz, 22.9 points) but with a significantly higher core count, making it suitable for parallelized tasks, the source noted. The chip also delivers AI computational capabilities, offering 2.5 TOPS with INT8 data processing at its peak frequency, which is not something to write home about.

Launching a processor that offers performance on par with CPUs that are more than 10 years old would not make a lot of sense in the U.S. or Europe. But as China strives to reduce dependence on Western technologies in general and processors in particular, SpacemiT will certainly find customers for its 64-core VitalStone V100. Unfortunately, we have no idea about its pricing, nor pricing of servers based on the VitalStone V100 processors. Given that the CPU is based on the open-source RISC-V ISA and is made on a rather mature 12nm-class process technology, it is unlikely that it is an expensive CPU.

In addition to the VitalStone V100, SpacemiT also markets the Keystone K1, a RISC-V processor designed for laptops and single-board computers.