China has developed its home-made central processing unit (CPU) chip -- Godson II -- equivalent to Pentium III, announced the Institute of Computing Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing Monday.

Godson II is China's first 64-bit high-performance processor which supports 64-bit Linux operating system and X-window system.

It has more advantages and functions than Godson I in terms of operating system supporting, Internet surfing and DVD playing, said Wang Chengwei, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering.

According to tests, the performance of Godson II is 10 times as much as the performance of Godson I. Its maximum frequency is 500 MHz. Its performance is equivalent to Pentium III.

"The authentication committee concluded that Godson II has reached the international level in 2000 and pioneers China's home-made CPU development," said Wang at the press conference in the Great Hall of the People.

At the press conference, the institute also signed a contract with Jiangsu Menglan Group establishing a industrial base to boost the process of developing, mass producing and marketing of Godson CPU chips.

Godson I, developed on September 28, 2002 by the institute, was the first CPU chip of which China has proprietary intellectual property rights.