A surprise that caught us off-guard comes in the form of a custom chipset seemingly being used in a Lenovo product called the Yoga Pad Pro 14.5, featuring the name ‘SS1101.’ Out of a multitude of companies, the multinational firm would probably be the last one on our tongue, so this is an interesting development. According to the specifications, this SoC features a 10-core CPU cluster, but it is said to be taped-out using an older manufacturing process, likely to save on costs. New rumor from a tipster claims that Lenovo will stick with the older 5nm manufacturing process for its custom ‘SS1101’ On X, our acquaintance @faridofanani96 shared an image below allegedly showing the Lenovo Yoga Pad Pro 14.5, with the chipset sporting the same name as the one mentioned above. It is unconfirmed if the device is a retail unit or an engineering one, but we can spot some partial specifications of the SS1101. The CPU cluster is ‘2 + 2 + 3 + 3,’ with the highest core operating at 3.29GHz. So far, there is no information on which cores are being used in the SS1101, so we will have to update our readers in the coming days. As for the GPU, the image reveals that the silicon sports an ARM Mali-G720 Immortalis graphics processor, but the number of cores are undisclosed. On Weibo, tipster Digital Chat Station also mentions these specifications, while also stating that Lenovo’s in-house solution is suggested to be taped-out on the older 5nm node, hinting that the tablet in the image is a prototype. The foundry’s name was not mentioned either, but Samsung has a habit of acquiring customers who place orders for the older manufacturing process, so there is a sliver of a possibility that the SS1101 was not fabricated by TSMC. At this stage, there are too many variables at play, and tons of details that have yet to be revealed, but one thing is clear; Chinese firms are aggressively making moves to ensure that they become independent in making their own hardware. As for how the U.S. will respond to this, that is a waiting game, and there is no telling if the Yoga Pad Pro 14.5 will witness a commercial launch. News Source: Digital Chat Station Deal of the Day