May 21, 2012

• 10 Billion Chips Use Licensed CPUs
  Licensed CPU-IP cores appeared in more than 10 billion chips in 2011. Less than half of these chips went into mobile devices, although ARM continues to be the leader with 78% unit share, according to our estimates.
  

May 14, 2012

• Parallelism for the Masses
  Intel has proposed a JavaScript extension that makes parallel programming easy enough for almost anyone-and it's surprisingly powerful. It hides the nitty-gritty details while using almost any parallel-processing resources available in a system.
  

• In Brief: Intel's Initial Ivy Bridge Wave
  Intel has launched its first 22nm chips with quad-core versions of Ivy Bridge. This first Ivy Bridge introduction included 13 Core i5 and Core i7 models topped by the 3.5GHz Core i7-3770K desktop processor.
  

• In Brief: Redpine's Dual-Band 802.11ac Chip
  Redpine Signals has announced an 802.11ac Wi-Fi transceiver chip that can simultaneously operate in the 5.0GHz and 2.4GHz radio bands. In single-band 802.11ac mode, it supports 3x3 MIMO and raw data rates of up to 1.3Gbps.
  

May 7, 2012

• In Brief: Catching a SoundWave With ARC
  Through its DesignWare SoundWave Audio Subsystem, Synopsys provides a complete IP subsystem to add high-definition audio to low-power SoCs. The company is targeting semiconductor markets ranging from low-cost mobile to high-end home electronics.
  

April 30, 2012

• Nvidia Lowers the Heat on Kepler
  Nvidia's newest GPU, code-named Kepler, offers lower power and higher performance compared with its predecessor, Fermi. Learning from its mistakes on Fermi, Nvidia instead took a page out of AMD's playbook to improve Kepler's efficiency.
  

• Intel, ARM Battle for Microservers
  To improve power efficiency and density, cloud data centers are turning to a new type of system called microservers. ARM vendors such as Calxeda are targeting these tiny servers, but Intel plans to fight back with its first Atom-based server processor, code-named Centerton.
  

April 23, 2012

• Octasic Stops the Clock
  The OCT2224W base-station processor from Octasic integrates 24 Opus2 DSPs. The company used an asynchronous design for this DSP to reduce power and area and improve performance, making it competitive despite being built in a 90nm process.
  

April 16, 2012

• Editorial: Intel Opposes SoC Tide
  Intel stands alone in opposing the trend toward application-specific processors. Instead of accepting Intel's worldview of ubiquitous general-purpose processing, competitors need to advocate the advantages of their SoC solutions.
  

• In Brief: Ceva TeakLite-4 Illuminates Roadmap
  Ceva's new TeakLite-4 architecture includes four new cores it plans to launch this year. The TeakLite-4 DSPs will primarily target audio and voice processing in everything from low-power mobile devices to high-end home entertainment systems.
  

• In Brief: Freescale Unveils First Vybrid Chips
  Freescale's new Vybrid family of 32-bit embedded processors fits between the company's Kinetis microcontrollers and higher-end i.MX chips. Two of the first five Vybrid products integrate an ARM Cortex-A5 CPU with a Cortex-M4 controller core.
  

April 9, 2012

• Stranger in an ARM World
  Ingenic, a Chinese company, has created a MIPS-based processor for mobile devices. The JZ4770 includes a 1.0GHz CPU of Ingenic's own design that is more efficient than standard ARM cores. It is currently shipping in a sub-$100 tablet computer.
  

• In Brief: Apple's A5X Leads In Graphics
  Apple's new iPad sports a high-resolution display with four times as many pixels as its predecessor. To support this display, the company developed a new processor chip that devotes most of its die area to the industry's highest-performance GPU.
  

April 2, 2012

• Romley Revamps Server Platforms
  Intel's new Romley platform moves the server forward with a new processor, PCIe Gen3, and 10Gbps Ethernet connectivity. Romley features the new Xeon E5 processor, which offers leading performance and power efficiency.
  

• TI Boosts Base-Station Processors
  The first member of Texas Instruments' new KeyStone II family is a powerful base-station processor that integrates eight C66x DSP cores with four ARM Cortex-A15 cores. It replaces multiple discrete chips and offers 3G/4G multimode capability.
  

• In Brief: AMD Targets Microservers
  Starting at just $99, the new Opteron 3200 family targets single-socket servers for dedicated web hosting. Code-named Zurich, the newest instantiation of the Bulldozer architecture shares the AM3+ socket with FX desktop processors.
  

March 26, 2012

• Transcede Reduces Cost, Supports 3G
  Mindspeed has announced two new families of its Transcede base-station processor targeting small-cell and femtocell systems. A key selling point is their reuse of LTE (4G) and WCDMA (3G) software field proven by the original Transcede and earlier Picochip processors.
  

• Editorial: End of the Core Wars
  For the rest of this year, expect lots of debate among smartphone makers about dual-core versus quad-core processors. But all smartphone processors will eventually be fast enough for most users. In fact, "eventually" may come sooner than you think.
  

March 19, 2012

• Freescale's Qonverge Goes Macro
  Freescale's new QorIQ Qonverge B4860 is one of the most powerful integrated base-station processors to date. On one chip, it integrates four 64-bit CPU cores and six 16-bit DSPs. The B4860 will expand the Qonverge family's capacity to cover macrocells.
  

• Intel, Nvidia Show Phone Momentum
  At the recent Mobile World Congress, Intel and Nvidia announced several new handset design wins. Several companies, including Intel, Renesas, and ST-Ericsson, announced new mobile processors. Huawei surprised by showing its first home-grown application processor, a quad-core design.
  

• In Brief: AMD Extends Cloud Efforts
  To bolster its position in the cloud, AMD has acquired small-server pioneer SeaMicro. By the end of this year, the company plans to offer platforms that combine its Opteron processors with SeaMicro's unique fabric technology.
  

• In Brief: Tensilica Cuts ConnX Current
  Instead of escalating the war for multiply-accumulate (MAC) dominance, the newest ConnX DSP battles for energy efficiency while reducing programmable performance by 50%. To save power in wireless handsets, the BBE32UE offloads more of the DSP workload to hardware accelerators.
  

• In Brief: Cortex-M0+ Simplifies 32-Bit MCUs
  ARM's new Cortex-M0+ is the company's lowest-power processor to date. Although it's no smaller than the existing Cortex-M0, it draws 29% less current and still manages to offer additional features.
  

March 12, 2012

• LSI Boards Backhaul Bandwagon
  The new AXM2500 family includes dual-core 28nm processors for cell-site routers and mobile-backhaul equipment. Compared with LSI's shipping 45nm ACP3400 family, the new chips add TDM support, Layer 2 switching in hardware, and tamper protection.
  

• Silicon Labs Adds ARM MCUs
  The new Precision32 MCUs combine a Cortex-M3 CPU with a variety of analog components. This combination provides industry-leading low power and reduces system cost, helping Silicon Labs stand out from the crowd of ARM MCU vendors.
  

• In Brief: LSI Grabs ARM for Axxia
  LSI is developing follow-ons to its PowerPC-based Axxia, such as the quad-core ACP3448. Continuing an architectural shift in the comms market, the new processors will incorporate up to 32 ARM CPUs as well as a new coherent on-chip interconnect.
  

• In Brief: Ubicom Submits to Qualcomm
  Qualcomm has quietly absorbed Ubicom. For the past 16 years, Ubicom applied software I/O and multithreading to create an area-efficient and flexible processor. Having never achieved breakout success, the company died quietly in its sleep.
  

March 5, 2012

• Ceva Exposes DSP Six Pack
  Ceva's new six-member XC4000 family of licensable DSP cores represents a shift toward architectural specialization. Customers can configure the six cores in the XC4000 to span performance levels ranging from low-cost handsets to high-end infrastructure.
  

• In Brief: Crystal Forest Offloads CPUs
  Not wanting to repeat past misadventures in specialized processors, Intel is enhancing its system-logic chip while keeping its embedded processors unalloyed. The company's new Crystal Forest platform pairs standard Sandy Bridge processors with a chip that offloads encryption, compression, and pattern matching.
  

February 27, 2012

• Freescale's QorIQ Adds Threads
  Freescale's new QorIQ T4240 and T4160 processors are the first products in the T-series AMP family and the most powerful Freescale processors to date. The 12-core T4240 and 8-core T4160 have new dual-threaded 64-bit CPUs and numerous accelerators for networking and other applications.
  

• Audience Takes the Stage
  Noise-reduction technology is becoming common in high-end smartphones, with Apple, Samsung, and Motorola among the major adopters. Startup Audience supplies noise reduction in a standalone chip, but some vendors are incorporating this function into their mobile processors.
  

• Editorial: Jump-Starting Semi Startups
  Starting a semiconductor company keeps getting more expensive. The GSA is looking at ways to decrease the required costs, but the IP model provides a simpler way to reduce investment and quickly reach profitability.
  

February 20, 2012

• Resonant Meshes Topple Clock Trees
  A resonant clock mesh can reduce CPU power by as much as 30% while scaling to much higher frequencies compared with traditional clock trees. AMD and other major processor vendors are using IP from a small startup, Cyclos, to achieve these savings.
  

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