China's 3rd-largest dam ditches foreign control chips for local tech

China’s Xiluodu Dam, the country’s third-largest hydropower station and one of the world’s largest, has fully replaced foreign programmable logic controllers (PLCs) from Siemens and Schneider Electric with domestically developed systems powered by Loongson’s 3C6000 processors. This transition addresses national security and supply chain vulnerabilities, especially given past cyberattacks like the Stuxnet worm that targeted Siemens PLCs. The NJ400 series PLC, developed by Atekon Technology and powered by Loongson CPUs, now controls the dam’s critical valve systems, marking a significant step toward technological self-reliance in China’s energy infrastructure. Loongson Technology, originating from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been advancing its own CPU architecture, LoongArch, since 2001 to reduce dependence on foreign technology. Despite being blacklisted by the US in 2023, Loongson continues to expand its footprint in China’s industrial sector, with its PLCs also deployed at