Powerleader: Powered by Intel or a Power Play?

A purported new “home-grown” chip introduced by a Chinese computer hardware producer, Powerleader this month is suspected to be a rebadged integrated circuit (IC) from Intel Corp, according to a report by online tech news site Tom’s Hardware, based on the results of a central processing unit (CPU) benchmark testing via online cross-platform utility Geekbench.

Source: Yahoo

Testing site Geekbench, a platform run by Canadian software developer Primate Labs, published the key parameters of Shenzhen-based Powerleader’s Powerstar P3-01105 CPUs on 26 May 2023 and found the chips identical to Intel’s Core i3-10105 Comet Lake CPU.

The South China Morning Post was unable to independently verify whether the Powerleader chip was indeed an Intel IC in disguise. Shenzhen-based Powerleader, which has no track record in semiconductor development, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Phone calls made to its head office in Shenzhen and sales service contacts went unanswered.

Intel has not made any comments on Powerleader’s chip. The Geekbench findings were widely reported by both Chinese and foreign media outlets focused on computer hardware.

Should the Geekbench findings get confirmed, Powerleader’s Powerstar CPU would mark the latest scandal to tarnish China’s development of indigenous chips, following the infamous Hanxin case in 2006.

A government investigation found that the developer of the Hanxin series of chips, Chen Jin of Shanghai’s prestigious Jiaotong University, had “committed serious falsification and fraud”, the university and state media said at the time. The Hanxin, or China chip, was initially hailed as the project that would make Shanghai one of the world’s top chip manufacturing centres, when the breakthrough was officially announced in 2003.

The project was funded by a special government programme aimed at nurturing major scientific and technological achievements.