China Unveils 6nm GPUs: Lisuan Tech Challenges Nvidia’s RTX 4060 with Homegrown Architecture

China's new 6nm GPU chip.
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    China has taken a significant step towards technological independence with the launch of its first homegrown 6nm gaming and AI GPUs, the Lisuan 7G106 and 7G105. Developed by Lisuan Tech, these new graphics cards, built on TSMC’s 6nm process, aim to challenge established players like Nvidia and AMD in the mid-range market. The company claims their proprietary TrueGPU architecture offers competitive performance, even rivaling Nvidia’s RTX 4060 in synthetic benchmarks and demonstrating impressive frame rates in demanding games.

    Key Takeaways

    • Lisuan Tech launches its first 6nm gaming and AI GPUs, the 7G106 and 7G105.
    • The GPUs are built on TSMC’s 6nm N6 process and feature the in-house TrueGPU architecture.
    • The 7G106 gaming GPU offers 12GB GDDR6 memory and claims performance on par with or exceeding the Nvidia RTX 4060 in synthetic benchmarks.
    • The 7G105 professional/AI GPU comes with 24GB GDDR6 memory and ECC support.
    • Both cards support modern APIs, including DirectX 12 and Vulkan 1.3, and feature hardware acceleration for AV1 and HEVC video codecs.
    • Lisuan Tech claims its proprietary upscaling technology, NRSS, rivals DLSS and FSR.
    • Mass production is slated for September 2025, with sampling beginning in August.

    Homegrown GPU Architecture

    Lisuan Tech’s new GPUs are powered by its in-house TrueGPU architecture, which the company states was developed entirely from scratch, including the instruction set, compute core, and software stack. This approach signifies a major push for domestic technological advancement in a critical sector. The architecture boasts features like "intelligent multitasking" for up to 48 concurrent tasks, optimized rendering efficiency, and a unique matrix memory layout designed to enhance memory performance.

    Performance Benchmarks and Gaming Demos

    Initial benchmark results suggest the Lisuan 7G106 is a strong contender. In synthetic tests like 3DMark Fire Strike, it reportedly matches the Nvidia RTX 4060. Furthermore, Geekbench 6 OpenCL tests show the 7G106 outperforming the RTX 4060 by approximately 10%. Gaming demonstrations were also promising, with titles like "Black Myth: Wukong" and "Wuchang: Fallen Feathers" running at over 70 FPS in 4K resolution with high settings. "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" achieved over 80 FPS under similar conditions.

    Gaming and Professional Variants

    The consumer-focused 7G106 is equipped with 12GB of GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus and supports DirectX 12 (without ray tracing), Vulkan 1.3, and other modern graphics APIs. It features four DisplayPort 1.4 outputs and has an implied TDP of around 225W, requiring a single 8-pin PCIe connector. The professional 7G105 variant doubles the memory to 24GB with ECC support, targeting AI and enterprise applications, including cloud rendering and metaverse use cases. It also supports SR-IOV virtualization for up to 16 virtual GPUs.

    Future Outlook and Availability

    Lisuan Tech plans to begin sampling the 7G106 and 7G105 in August 2025, with mass production scheduled for September 2025. While pricing and final clock speeds are yet to be announced, these GPUs represent a significant milestone for China’s domestic semiconductor industry. If the claimed performance and architectural independence are validated, Lisuan’s offerings could provide a competitive alternative for Chinese consumers and businesses, especially in light of ongoing export restrictions.

    Sources