A senior science official responsible for China's high technology advancement said Monday that a kind of advanced central processor unit (CPU) has been created and entered into the market.

Vice Minister of Science and Technology Ma Songde said that industrialization of the CPU epitomizes the fact that China has gained key know-how in designing integrated circuits.

The CPU research and development project, carried out by the prestigious Peking University Micro-processor Research and Development Center (MPRC), was mandated by the government as the first one of its 12 task forces promoting high technology.

Prof. Cheng Xu, leading scientist with the project, said that every CPU developed by his labs is comprised of at least 8 million transistors, the largest of its kind ever designed by the Chinese.

Intellectual property of key technologies on hardware and software is owned by him and his fellow scientists, said Cheng, a Peking University professor in computing sciences.

A national expert team appraised Prof. Cheng's products, brand-named MPRC-863 CPU, as safe, reliable and highly cost-effective.

Prof. Yan Xiaolang, coordinator of the expert team overseeing nationwide research and development on integrated circuit designing, said that the government's huge investment into integrated circuitry was well-advised. The strategic plan would boost the information industry as well as help attract talented research, he added.

Besides Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University and other research organs have developed their own CPU products.

"Chinese scientists have made breakthroughs in designing a CPU," Prof. Yan said.

Research and industrial circles estimated that China would be the world's second largest consumer of integrated circuits around the year 2020, only next to the United States. National science and technology decision-makers are planning to make the country the second largest integrated circuit producer.

"With regard to high ambition," said Prof. Yan, "The road ahead is arduous and we still have a long way to go."

(People's Daily December 9, 2003)