Chinese company PowerLeader released the PowerStar P3-01105 x86 processor

Chinese processor manufacturer PowerLeader has appeared on the Internet as if out of nowhere. The company has now held a press conference where it has presented its own x86 processor, which it boasts is many times faster than its domestic competitors.

Tom’s Hardware has investigated the case more closely and says that in the Chinese media PowerLeader representatives have told how their first generation Powerstar processor is designed for everyday use and suitable for any industry. For now, however, the case is very much dependent on machine translations, so the possible inaccuracy of the translations leaves some things partially up to guesswork.

However, the reality behind the Powerstar P3-01105 would seem to be something completely different. The processor is identical in appearance and known characteristics to Intel’s Comet Lake architecture Core i3-10105 processor. Both are quad-core processors supporting eight simultaneous threads with a base clock frequency of 3.7 GHz. The heat spreaders of the processors and the visible part of the packaging are indented and so on; even the barcode on the top right edge of the packaging is said to be identical, although it’s impossible to confirm due to the blurring of the comparison image.

However, PowerLeader, Intel or any other party has not even hinted about possible licensing or rebranding agreements, which makes the case even more obscure. Based on their research, Tom’s Hardware speculates that it could be an opportunity to collect Chinese state subsidies by publishing “domestic processors”, even if the truth is something else entirely. It would also explain InnoSilicon’s “proprietary” Fantasy graphics chips, which were actually PowerVR graphics chips licensed from Imagination Technologies.

Source: Tom’s Hardware Pictures: WCCFTech