At ICCAD‑Expo 2025 in Chengdu, industry leaders highlighted that China’s IC design sector remains small, fragmented, and skewed to low‑range and midrange products, with computer chips at only 7.7% of sales versus roughly 25% globally. Wei Shaojun urged differentiated competition, targeted policy, and sustained core‑technology R&D to build an independent, secure chip ecosystem. Against this backdrop, Xiang Di Xian unveiled its 5 nm Fuxi A0 GPU, delivering ray‑traced demos, up to 160 TFLOPS, and 12 GB memory, plus a B0 GPU‑NPU variant, despite unresolved financial troubles and unclear refinancing after major 2024 layoffs.
Xiang Di Xian’s AIB lineup. (Source: Company)
From November 20 to 21, the 2025 Integrated Circuit Development Forum (Chengdu-Chongqing) and the 31st Integrated Circuit Design Industry Exhibition (ICCAD-Expo 2025) were jointly hosted by Chengdu Integrated Circuit Industry Association, Chongqing Semiconductor Industry Association, and Chengdu National Chip Spark Innovation Base, at the Western China International Expo City in Chengdu.
At the keynote, Professor Wei Shaojun, chairman of the Integrated Circuit Design Branch of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, pointed out that China’s integrated circuit design industry still faces structural challenges of being small, scattered, and weak, with its product structure generally biased towards the low-to-mid-end market. Specifically, this is in the sub-sectors, communication chips, and consumer electronics chips, which contribute nearly two-thirds of sales. Meanwhile, computer chips, the industry’s high ground, account for only 7.7%, far below the global average of approximately 25%.
Facing the next stage of development, Shaojun reported that promoting differentiated competition and avoiding homogeneous internal competition are key to ensuring the industry’s healthy, sustainable development. In terms of funding, talent, market, and policy coordination, the industry needs to actively respond to the national top-level design, implement precise policies, and focus on overcoming development bottlenecks. The entire industry must remain confident, continuously strengthen core technology breakthroughs, he said, with product competitiveness building, drive comprehensive industrial upgrading through systemic innovation, and, ultimately, achieve a completely independent, secure, and reliable Chinese chip industry system.
With that as a backdrop, Xiang Di Xian, commonly referred to as XDX (aka, Xiangdi Xian Computing Technology/Xiangdi/XDXCT) introduced its Fuxi A0 GPU, based on Imagination Technologies’ DXD IP and implemented on a PC AIB. The design is implemented on a 5 nm fabrication process (most likely TSMC), placing it among the earliest GPUs of that class produced in China.
At the conference, the company showed the Fuxi A0 with a ray-traced rendering demo that achieved about 35 fps. Xiang Di Xian did not specify the output resolution, the scene complexity, or whether the rendering used upscaling or frame interpolation techniques.
Initial specifications indicate that the Fuxi GPU line will include two variants: A0 and B0. While the A0 is geared toward rendering and gaming, the B0 combines GPU and NPU functionality, offering FP8 capabilities.
Reports indicate that the Fuxi A0 GPU offers up to 160 TFLOPS of compute power and has 12 GB of onboard memory, placing it near the performance level of similar foreign graphics processors.
The AIB’s design features a dual-slot layout and dual-fan cooling solution, with several physical DRAM modules visible along the printed circuit board. It is the first mass-market GPU built on the Imagination DXD architecture.
This configuration suggests a balanced focus on power dissipation and memory bandwidth, enabling the device to handle modern graphics and AI workloads within a conventional thermal envelope for midrange professional or consumer GPUs.
The Fuxi A0 represents Xiang Di Xian’s attempt to establish a domestic alternative for advanced graphics and compute workloads traditionally handled by imported GPUs. The company positions the chip for both visualization and AI inference workloads that rely on parallel compute efficiency. By integrating Imagination’s DXD cores into a local manufacturing ecosystem, the product demonstrates how Chinese vendors are leveraging licensed IP and access to advanced processes to accelerate self-reliance in high-performance computing components.
The demonstration also indicates the maturity of local software and driver development. Achieving real-time ray tracing, even under controlled test conditions, suggests that Xiang Di Xian’s software stack can support modern rendering frameworks such as Vulkan RT or DirectX Raytracing equivalents.
The company said production will begin within the next cycle, aiming for commercial availability next year.
Xiang Di Xian, which had developed earlier GPUs such as the XDX 121, XDX 151, XDX R1900, and XDX X1900, continues expanding its graphics portfolio with the Fuxi A0.
However, in September 2024, we and multiple outlets reported that Xiangdi Xian/Xiang Di Xian faced a cash crunch, terminated approximately 400 staff, faced asset freezes and lawsuits, and discussed restructuring, while seeking new investors.
Since then, we have not found any credible filing or announcement indicating fresh financing, a completed restructuring, or a workforce rebuild. What has appeared is product-side noise: Reports that the firm demonstrated the Fuxi A0 GPU (at ICCAD 2025). Those demo reports don’t include funding or balance-sheet details.
Bottom line: As of the latest reporting, the company has not publicly shown that it fixed the September-era financial problems; at best, it’s still operating in some capacity (trade show demo), while its capital status remains unclear. Bring in the smoke and mirrors.
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