China unveils new chip ’Meteor-1’ to rival Nvidia amid US sanctions – SCMP

Published 24/06/2025, 05:58
© Reuters

Investing.com-- Chinese scientists have developed the world’s first highly parallel optical computing chip, named "Meteor-1," which could rival the performance of advanced AI chips like Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) GPUs while overcoming key limitations of traditional electronics, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Tuesday.

The chip achieves a theoretical peak computing power of 2,560 tera-operations per second (TOPS) at 50GHz, comparable to Nvidia’s flagship RTX 4090, and nearing its latest RTX 5090, which achieves 3,352 TOPS, the report stated.

Unlike electronic chips, optical computing offers ultra-high speed, low latency, and minimal power consumption, making it a promising solution for AI and data centers.

Led by researchers from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics and Nanyang Technological University, the chip uses a novel multi-wavelength design to process over 100 tasks simultaneously, the report said.

The research was published June 17 in the eLight journal.

The fully self-developed system comes as U.S. export controls limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors, accelerating Beijing’s push for homegrown alternatives.

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