Design Methodology
While slower than x86 CPUs being sold by AMD and Intel, both in absolute terms and on a clock for clock basis, Centaur's chips are much smaller, cheaper to manufacture and consume less power. This makes them highly attractive in the embedded marketplace, and increasingly in the mobile sector as well.
A performance gap exists between Centaur and competing x86 chips. Centaur design philosophy was always centered around "sufficient" performance for tasks that its target market demands. Some of the design trade offs made by the design team run contrary to accepted wisdom.
In a trend-setting move, processors were designed with hardware encryption acceleration starting with the VIA C7. Following its release many Intel and AMD processors incorporate this feature.
Read more about this topic: Centaur Technology
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