Linux 6.19 is bringing mainline support for Black Sesame Technologies' Wudang C1200 family of automotive processors, a line of 7nm chips designed to handle everything from infotainment to autonomous driving on a single piece of silicon. The C1200 series, which includes the 10-core C1296 and 8-core C1236, represents China's growing ambitions in the automotive semiconductor space, with the company already supplying chips to Geely, Dongfeng, and Baidu's self-driving platform.
Both processors are built around Arm Cortex-A78AE cores with Dual-Core Lockstep capability for ASIL-D functional safety compliance, paired with Mali-G78AE GPUs and custom neural network accelerators. The chips support up to 12 HD camera inputs with 17MP resolution and 140dB HDR, 4K video encoding and decoding, and connectivity options including dual 10GbE ports, over 20 CAN-FD interfaces, and PCIe 4.0. The C1296 offers slightly more flexibility with multi-display output and dual USB 3.1 ports, while the C1236 trades those for a fifth vision DSP core.
Black Sesame Technologies, founded in 2016 and now employing over 1,000 people across China, Singapore, and the US, officially launched the C1200 family in April 2025 after forming a partnership with Bosch in 2018. The Linux kernel commit also references a quad-core variant, suggesting the family may expand further. While the company has not detailed software support, the chips will likely run Android for infotainment alongside Linux and RTOS for safety-critical functions.
