A new Chinese-made central processing unit (CPU) chip called Godson II has been developed that is equivalent to Pentium III, announced the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Computing Technology in Beijing on Monday.

"The authentication committee concluded that Godson II reaches a level equivalent to the international standard of 2000 and pioneers Chinese CPU development," said Wang Chengwei of the Chinese Academy of Engineering at a press conference in the Great Hall of the People.
  
Godson II is China's first 64-bit high-performance processor, and supports the 64-bit Linux and X-windows operating systems. It improves on Godson I in terms of operating system support as well as internet and DVD capability, said Wang.
  
According to tests, Godson II performs 10 times as fast as its predecessor, with a maximum processing speed of 500 MHz.
  
Yesterday, the institute also signed a contract with Jiangsu Menglan Group establishing a base to boost the development, mass production and marketing of Godson CPU chips.
  
Godson I, developed by the institute on September 28, 2002, was the first CPU chip for which a Chinese body had intellectual property rights.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2005)