Loongson’s First GPU Marks Major Milestone, But Performance Lags Behind AMD’s RX 550

China’s push for homegrown computing hardware has taken another step forward with Loongson’s announcement of its first GPU, the 9A1000, which has reportedly reached the tape-out stage and is expected to debut in the third quarter of this year. While this is a major milestone for Loongson and China’s semiconductor industry, early performance indications suggest that the GPU will only match the capabilities of AMD’s Radeon RX 550, a nearly eight-year-old entry-level card.

According to ITHome, the Loongson 9A1000 will support OpenGL 4.0 and OpenCL ES 3.2 APIs, with efficiency gains highlighted as a key achievement. Compared to its earlier prototypes, the chip reportedly offers up to 5x performance improvements and 70 percent lower power consumption under stress tests.

Despite these optimizations, Loongson’s GPU is not expected to compete with modern offerings from NVIDIA or AMD. The RX 550, which launched in 2017, was already considered an entry-level card at release, positioning the 9A1000 as a very modest performer in today’s landscape.

Future variants, including the 9A2000 and 9A3000, are rumored to be in development, but there is no official timeline for when they will reach production.

Loongson is not the only Chinese firm attempting to close the gap in GPU technology. The Lisuan G100, China’s first 6nm GPU, was announced earlier as part of the country’s effort to reduce reliance on foreign technology, especially in strategic areas like AI and high-performance computing.

Still, catching up to NVIDIA and AMD will require years of iteration. The 9A1000 is a symbolic first step for Loongson, showing intent rather than immediate competitiveness.

Do you think China can close the GPU performance gap with NVIDIA and AMD in the next decade, or will domestic chips remain generations behind?