By Gabby Chen

(JW Insights) Apr 25 -- Huang Lingyi, the highly respected founding member for China's first independently developed CPU chip Loongson 1, passed away at the age of 86 on April 20 in Beijing because of illness. Huang is known as "mother of China's Loongson (formerly Godson) chip," according to Chinese online news outlet The Paper on April 24.

Source: The Paper

Huang played a pivotal role in China's microelectronics industry, participating in the development of various diodes, transistors, large-scale integrated circuits, and China's first independently developed CPU chip - Loongson 1.

Huang joined the Loongson R&D team as a project leader after retirement in 2001. Under her leadership, the team successfully developed China's first general-purpose CPU - Loongson 1 - on August 10, 2002. Since then, many domestically produced high-performance chips, including Loongson 3, have emerged.

Huang was a retired member of the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

In January 2020, Huang was awarded the Xia-Peisu Award by the China Computer Federation (CCF) in January 2020 for her significant contributions to the development of computer core devices. The award is specifically given to recognize exceptional achievements made by women in computing science, engineering, education, and industry.

According to the CCF Award Committee, "Professor Huang Lingyi has been engaged in the R&D of discrete devices, large-scale integrated circuits, and general-purpose Loongson CPU chips for more than half a century. She has made outstanding contributions to developing computer core devices in China."

Born in 1936, Huang Lingyi graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in 1958. She later pursued further studies in the semiconductor at Tsinghua University before returning to her alma mater - HUST - to establish a semiconductor program and laboratory. In 1962, she joined the Institute of Computing Technology (ICT) of CAS.