You are currently viewing SemiWiki as a guest which gives you limited access to the site. To view blog comments and experience other SemiWiki features you must be a registered member. Registration is fast, simple, and absolutely free so please,
join our community today!
Big processors get all the love, it seems. It’s natural, since they are highly complex beasts and need a lot of care and feeding in the EDA and fab cycle. But the law of large numbers is starting to shift energy in the direction of optimizing microcontrollers.
I mulled the math in my head for a while. In a world with 7 billion people and … Read More
There was a day, not too long ago, when a software developer could be intimate with a processor through understanding its register set. Before coding, developers would reach for a manual, digging through pages and pages of 1s and 0s with defined functions to find how to gain control over the processor and its capability. One bit set… Read More
Talk about an unusual position. Intel finds themselves very much currently outside when it comes to mobile SoCs for phones and tablets. After several attempts at soul-searching and a true understanding of the term “low-power” (not meaning 3W, but instead < 1W), they finally have a part – in the form of “Medfield”, aka the Atom… Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: NVIDIAby Don Dingee on 05-02-2012 at 4:16 pmCategories: Arm, IP
When the name synonymous with personal computer graphics decided to turn their engineering talent toward the mobile business, heads turned. NVIDIA has rather quickly gained a foothold in tablets by squeezing four high performance processing cores, twelve graphics cores, and more onto a Tegra 3.… Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: Appleby Don Dingee on 04-29-2012 at 9:00 pmCategories: Arm, IP
Apple sells devices. Lots of them. Their success is due to many things related to design and tech religion, and an important part is the SoC inside those devices which creates the experience people want. The official Apple information on their parts is minimal. Their SoCs have been dissected with more fervor than Roswell aliens.… Read More
TI has parlayed its heritage in digital signal processing and long-term relationships with mobile device makers into a leadership position in mobile SoCs. They boast a relatively huge portfolio of design wins thanks to being the launch platform for Android 4.0. On the horizon, the next generation OMAP 5 could change the entire… Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: Samsungby Don Dingee on 04-19-2012 at 8:27 pmCategories: Arm, IP
There are few companies that impact the overall mobile supply chain more than Samsung. They are one of Apple’s largest suppliers, fabbing the processor and LCDs in the iPhone and iPad. They also design and fab the Exynos SoC at the heart of their own Galaxy line of phones and tablets.… Read More
Smart mobile SoCs: Qualcommby Don Dingee on 04-17-2012 at 8:19 pmCategories: Arm, IP
In the opener to this series, I alluded to a company designing their own approach, and it goes way beyond the graphics core in their solution. Qualcomm is unique in a holistic approach to a smart mobile device with their vertically integrated chipset, the Snapdragon S4.… Read More
If I say “graphics chip”, most techies will say NVIDIA or AMD. But in the new post-PC world , neither of these players holds the key to the future. One that does is a little company making 43 cents on every latest version iPad and iPhone. Another is designing their own approach. Should you care what graphics is in your phone?… Read More
Getting a feature to take off in today’s smartphone market is tricky. It requires a combination of hardware support, OS support, app integration, and maybe most importantly carrier adoption. Ideas that seem ready technologically, like NFC, get stopped in their tracks by silly things like the William J. LePetomaine Thruway… Read More
What would you do if you were the CEO of Intel?