Loongson has announced the 3B6600 desktop processor, a new chip built on the company’s proprietary LoongArch instruction set. The vendor confirmed that the design phase is complete and the chip recently went to tape-out. Loongson Chairman Hu Weiwu stated that the product will reach the market next year, targeting a global release in 2026.
Mature process technology enables performance comparable to advanced foreign CPUs
The 3B6600 features an eight-core architecture. It delivers approximately 30 percent higher frequency performance than the previous 3A6000 model. Single-core benchmarks place the chip between 60 and 80 points on SPEC INT2006. Loongson claims this performance level competes with Intel 12th Generation Core i5 and i7 processors.
The processor integrates the 9A1000 graphics unit, which also completed tape-out in September 2025. This GPU provides 40 TOPS of AI compute power. Its display capabilities are comparable to the AMD Radeon RX 550. The graphics core supports OpenGL 4.0 and OpenGL ES 3.2 standards.
Loongson manufactures the 3B6600 using mature process technology rather than cutting-edge nodes. The company asserts that this approach allows it to achieve performance levels typically associated with foreign advanced process CPUs. This strategy emphasizes high autonomy in the supply chain. Engineering samples are expected to be available in late 2025.
Hu Weiwu indicated that the single-core performance places the chip in the world’s leading tier. The vendor is also considering adapting the LoongArch architecture for the Android ecosystem. Loongson has not confirmed the exact release date for commercial products. The company has stated it will strive to develop Windows drivers for the 9A1000 GPU, but this remains an unconfirmed goal.
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