In recent years, the global semiconductor industry has become increasingly competitive, and self-developed chips have become a key track for technology companies to enhance their core competitiveness. Following Huawei, Xiaomi and other companies have successively made efforts to develop their own chips, Lenovo has also quietly entered the game, with a custom SoC applied to the Yoga Pad Pro 2-in-1 convertible device, which has attracted widespread attention in the industry.
The chip, codenamed "SS1101", is based on the Arm64-v8a ISA architecture and features a unique 10-core (2+2+3+3) layout. The architecture is designed to take full advantage of the performance advantages of different cores, two of which are clocked at up to 3.29GHz and are responsible for handling high-load computing tasks. The other three cores operate at 2.83GHz, 1.9GHz, and 1.71GHz for a wide range of complex multitasking needs. In terms of graphics, the SS1101 is equipped with an Arm Immortalis G720 GPU, which is also used in the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 and 8400 SoCs, which provide excellent graphics rendering capabilities and a smooth visual experience for the device. In terms of manufacturing process, "SS1101" is built by TSMC's 5nm process, which not only effectively improves the performance of the chip, but also further optimizes the energy consumption performance.
Lenovo's move to develop its own chips this time is closely related to its product layout and market strategy. The Yoga Pad Pro series occupies a unique niche position in a niche market as Lenovo's 2-in-1 hybrid device that combines laptop and tablet capabilities. Previously, this series of products mainly used Qualcomm chips, and this time the bold use of self-developed chips reflects Lenovo's strategic transformation and breakthrough in the chip field. Through self-developed chips, Lenovo can more accurately achieve a deep match between product functions and performance, bring users a more differentiated product experience, and then consolidate its competitive advantage in market segments.
Figure: Lenovo's self-developed Arm chip was unveiled, and its performance may be comparable to Qualcomm and MediaTek
From the perspective of industry development trends, Lenovo's move conforms to the general trend of domestic technology companies accelerating self-developed chips. In recent years, domestic companies have increased their investment in chip research and development in an attempt to break their dependence on foreign technology. Although domestic semiconductor manufacturing technology still faces many challenges, such as SMIC's bottleneck in 7nm technology, companies represented by Lenovo and Xiaomi can still obtain advanced process technology and promote the R&D and production of self-developed chips by cooperating with leading international foundries such as TSMC. However, the environment of the international semiconductor industry is complex and changeable, and the uncertainty of the external supply chain always exists, which also prompts enterprises to accelerate the construction of independent and controllable chip technology systems.
However, a lot of key information about the "SS1101" chip still needs to be further verified. Since Lenovo has not officially released the chip, its actual performance, power consumption control, and compatibility with other hardware still lack authoritative data support. The follow-up professional evaluation of independent evaluation institutions will become an important basis for testing the true strength of this chip.
The emergence of Lenovo's self-developed chip "SS1101" is not only a demonstration of the company's own technical strength, but also a microcosm of the continuous exploration and breakthrough of domestic technology companies in the semiconductor field. With the continuous maturity of technology and the continuous development of the market, Lenovo may continue to make efforts in the field of self-developed chips in the future, injecting new vitality into the development of the industry, and also making us full of expectations for the future of domestic chips.
