Chinese semiconductor company Zhaoxin announced on May 20, 2026 that it has completed new compatibility certifications for a set of key products running on its proprietary CPU platform[1]. Built around the server-class "KaiSheng KH-50000" processor and the high-performance "KaiXian KX-7000" processor for desktop and embedded use, the certified products span enterprise SSDs, smart NICs, a range of databases, server operating systems and more[1]. Through this effort, Zhaoxin is working to expand the software and hardware ecosystem centered on its proprietary "ZX86" instruction set[1].
What the "ZX86" ecosystem is
Zhaoxin is a Shanghai-based CPU design company originally established as a joint venture between Taiwan's VIA Technologies and a Shanghai municipal government entity, and it has long developed processors compatible with the x86 instruction set[3]. In recent years the company has been defining and extending its own instruction set, which it calls "ZX86," advancing under the principle of "innovate independently without being closed off, stay compatible with the mainstream without being dependent on it"[1]. According to the company, it now holds 11 categories of core CPU technologies in-house[1].
In China, there is an ongoing push — known as "Xinchuang" (information technology application innovation) — to replace the information systems of critical sectors such as government, finance and electric power with domestically produced semiconductors and software. Because the CPU is the foundation of such systems, how many peripheral hardware and software products Zhaoxin can line up to run on its own processors is key to adoption. This round of compatibility certification is positioned as part of that ecosystem-building work[1].
Certified products spanning hardware and storage
The products Zhaoxin disclosed this time begin with hardware such as network cards and storage[1]. In networking, PCIe-connected NICs (network interface cards) were certified, supporting data-center features such as SR-IOV virtualization, RDMA and DPDK[1].
In storage, several enterprise SSDs were certified[1]. The "DapuStor R6X01" series uses a PCIe 5.0 connection, adopts 3D eTLC NAND flash, and supports the NVMe 2.0 specification[1]. The "SP5000" series is also a PCIe 5.0 enterprise SSD with an in-house developed controller, claiming a maximum capacity of 30.72 TB and sequential reads of up to 14,000 MB/s and writes of up to 8,500 MB/s[1]. The SATA-connected "TWSC TS3160" series was also among the certified products, with sequential read/write speeds rated at up to 540/510 MB/s[1]. All of these are products aimed at the growing storage demands of enterprise systems driven by the spread of AI[1].
Certification also advancing for OSes, databases and other foundational software
Alongside hardware, compatibility certification is also progressing for foundational software such as server operating systems and databases[1]. For server OSes, several domestic enterprise-grade OSes completed operational verification on the Zhaoxin platform[1]. For databases, products with differing use cases were among those certified, including the distributed database "OceanBase" V4, graph databases, products supporting MPP (massively parallel processing) configurations, and HTAP (a fusion of transaction processing and analytical processing) databases[1]. In addition, data integration platforms, operations-management systems, enterprise AI capability platforms and web security products are also among the certified products[1].
The foundation underpinning this ecosystem expansion is the server-oriented "KaiSheng KH-50000" and the desktop-oriented "KaiXian KX-7000." According to overseas reports, the KH-50000 is a server processor with up to 96 cores, 384 MB of L3 cache, 12-channel DDR5 memory and 128 lanes of PCIe 5.0[2]. The KX-7000, meanwhile, is an 8-core x86-compatible desktop processor with a maximum clock of roughly 3.7 GHz, and Zhaoxin also unveiled a derivative with an integrated NPU, the "KX-7000N," in 2025[3][4]. That said, some assessments point to a gap with the latest generations from Intel and AMD in single-unit processing performance, leaving Zhaoxin with the twin challenges of improving performance and expanding its ecosystem[5].
Summary
This announcement shows that Zhaoxin is steadily expanding the software and hardware ecosystem centered on its proprietary "ZX86" CPU[1]. Assembling a full set of products — from SSDs and network cards to server OSes, databases and AI platforms — is an important condition for users looking to advance the switch to domestically produced systems. Zhaoxin's position of chasing the major overseas players on performance has not changed, but how quickly it can broaden the range of compatible products is likely to shape the course of future adoption[1][5].
出典:https://www.zhaoxin.com/news_view.aspx?nid=2&typeid=291&id=2037
