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Intel inside? Chinese firm Powerleader’s ‘home-grown’ chip suspected of being a rebadged microprocessor from US giant, test results show

  • Microprocessor benchmark testing on Geekbench found that Powerleader’s Powerstar chips were identical to Intel’s Core i3-10105 Comet Lake CPU
  • Shenzhen-based Powerleader, which has no track record in semiconductor development, has been using Intel chips on its computer products

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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. Image: Shutterstock
Che Panin Beijing
A purported new “home-grown” chip introduced by a Chinese computer hardware producer 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.

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 May 26 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.
A man holds between his fingers an example of Intel Corp’s eighth-generation Core i3 microprocessor. The 10th generation of this chip, code-named Comet Lake, was reportedly rebadged as Powerleader’s Powerstar P3-01105 central processing unit. Photo: Shutterstock
A man holds between his fingers an example of Intel Corp’s eighth-generation Core i3 microprocessor. The 10th generation of this chip, code-named Comet Lake, was reportedly rebadged as Powerleader’s Powerstar P3-01105 central processing unit. Photo: Shutterstock

Intel has not made any comments on Powerleader’s chip.

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