The Chinese company Loongson obtained a license to produce processors based on the AMD Zen architecture, which at the time was quite controversial due to the tensions that existed and exist between China and the United States. But now we are in another situation, much more complex and possibly a scam attempt.
“Counterfeit” transformers in China
PowerLeader is a processor manufacturer from China, which surely sounds like nothing to you. This is normal, since Chinese companies produce to sell only within the Asian giant. They just announced the Powerstar P3-01105 processor who would use the Storm Core architecture. As stated, this chip is said to have exceptional performance.
As revealed, this Powerstar P3-01105 has 4 cores and eight threadsworking in a 3.7 GHz base frequency. Also, it is worth mentioning that the packaging is brutally similar to that of Intel processors. This makes you think that it is indeed an Intel processor and therefore name and specificationsit would be a Intel Core i3-10105.
Looking at the name, it roughly coincides with Intel, but changing some order numbers. They also change the letter “i” to the letter “P”. Also, since the two packages are identical, we can almost be sure that they wiped the Intel data and silkscreened the new name.
To our knowledge, Intel has no connection with the Chinese company PowerLeader. We can say more Intel has never allowed anyone to market its processors under any other name.. Only the company designs its processors and manufactures them, although they are now also produced by TSMC.
The “manufacturer” PowerLeader says it’s designed specifically for desktop users. He also says it’s ideal for industry, government, education, finance and other sectors. The sales target is 1.5 million units each year, a rather ambitious target.
Also, the chairman of Baode Group, the parent company of PowerLeader, said that this is just the first launch. They will launch more processors and aspire to be the Asian giant’s main solution provider.
What does Intel say about this?
For the moment, it seems that the company has not ruled on the matter. If it was a fake or an attempted scam, it would be hard to know how far they can go. Keep in mind that China’s counterfeiting laws are virtually non-existent.
We’re guessing they just erased Intel’s silkscreen and put their own, complete with face. They didn’t change the processor heatsink, which they could have done with no problem.
Intel may not be talking and if they do, they may not be too harsh. We are talking about 1.5 million processors sold, which is a lot of money in these difficult market times. Although, as is logical, they will not be very amused by this botched name change.
We imagine that a youtubeur will get his hands on one of these processors and will try to install it on an Intel motherboard. If this happens and it manages to turn on without problems, we will have confirmation of the “scam”.
