China’s Latest Technology Could Replace CPUs Forever

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Fudan University's Wuji is a 32-bit RISC-V processor with about 5,900 transistors and no silicon: its channel is molybdenum disulfide, a layer three atoms thick (Nature, 2025). A Shanghai company now runs a pilot line for 2D chips, and Peking University has a bismuth transistor that skips silicon too. What is proven, why China is racing for it, and how far it is from the $509.99 Intel chip on your desk. (Amazon prices, October 23, 2026.)

Which CPU is in your desktop, and what did you pay? Tell us in the comments.

Chapters:
0:00 Wuji: China's Silicon-Free CPU
2:23 The $510 Silicon Chip on Your Desk
6:07 Why Silicon Is Hitting a Wall
8:27 How Fudan Built a 2D Processor
11:29 Sanctions and the Race Beyond Silicon
13:38 Peking University's Bismuth Transistor
16:58 From Lab to a Shanghai Production Line
21:45 The Global Race for 2D Chips
24:17 How Far Wuji Is From Your PC
26:47 RISC-V: The CPU Beyond Silicon

Sources:
IEEE Spectrum — Latest 2D Chip: 6,000 Transistors, 3 Atoms Thick (April 16, 2025) — https://spectrum.ieee.org/2d-semiconductors-molybdenum-disulfide
Semiconductor Today — RISC processor based on 2D semiconductor FETs (April 17, 2025) — https://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2025/apr/fudan-170425.shtml
China Daily / Shanghai government — Shanghai readies launch of innovative 2D chip (January 8, 2026) — https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-IndustrialInnovation-Scitechcenter/20260108/9cc87c30c3fd4495942c5731220c9b2a.html
TrendForce — Yuanjiwei eyes 5nm-equivalent chips without EUV by 2029 (July 14, 2026) — https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/07/14/news-chinas-yuanjiwei-eyes-5nm-equivalent-chips-without-euv-by-2029-debuts-worlds-1st-2d-semiconductor-pilot-line/
Penn State — World's first 2D, non-silicon computer developed (June 11, 2025) — https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/worlds-first-2d-non-silicon-computer-developed
Nature — A RISC-V 32-bit microprocessor based on two-dimensional semiconductors (April 2, 2025)
36Kr — Interview with Bao Wenzhong on 2D semiconductors (February 9, 2026)
Interesting Engineering — China's 'fastest-ever' 2D chip beats Intel with 40% more speed (March 11, 2025)
Tom's Hardware — imec, ASML and TSMC build complementary 2D material transistors on a 300mm wafer (2026)
Fenwick — BIS significantly restricts Chinese access to advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing items (October 2022)

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