Report: Asian firms eye alternative chips
Updated on September 16 at 6:30 a.m. PDT: adding information from Hironori Kasahara, a professor of computer science at Waseda University
Large electronics companies are building a chip for consumer electronics devices in Japan, while a China-based device manufacturer said it is working on devices using the ARM chip design, according to reports.
Waseda University's Hironori Kasahara wrote software for chips that Japanese companies are developing.
(Credit: Waseda Daigaku)In Japan, some of the country's largest electronics and chip manufacturers are collaborating in an effort to develop a new low-power processor design for consumer electronics devices, according to Nikkei, which Forbes reported earlier.
The Japan-based group includes Fujitsu, Toshiba, Panasonic Renesas Technology, NEC, Hitachi, and Canon. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will offer between 3 billion and 4 billion yen (between $32 million and $43 million) to support the project, according to Nikkei.
Each company will develop their own central processing unit, or CPU. The report claimed that the chips would be compatible with "energy-saving" software developed by Hironori Kasahara, a professor of computer science at Waseda University, Nikkei said. Kasahara said he was developing an application programming interface (API) for multi-core processors, in response to an e-mail query.
A prototype is able to operate using less than 30 percent of normal power consumption and works even when a power outlet is not available, according to Nikkei.
Once a standard is established--the companies are targeting 2012--the CPU will be used in TVs, digital cameras, and other products. The companies may also sell the chip to other companies for use in automobiles, servers, and robots, Nikkei said.
That doesn't mean, however, the CPU will be adopted across Asia. Following the Nikkei article, Taipei-based Digitimes reported that circuit board makers in Taiwan are not enthusiastic about the prospects of a new CPU architecture.
A more immediate threat to Intel--and possibly a more potent rival to any chip that emerges from the Japan-based chip consortium--is ARM, the power-stingy processor design already used by a host of chip manufacturers including Samsung, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm.
Hon Hai--also referred to as Foxconn--the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, is readying small laptop designs based on the ARM processor, according to various reports.
A special assistant to the Hon Hai CEO was quoted by Reuters as saying that the company has "a few smartbook projects" based on the ARM chip. Smartbooks are essentially a smartphone in a larger format, such as a small laptop or tablet. These designs are being promoted by Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Freescale, among other chip manufacturers.
Intel is developing a new version of the Atom processor, a so-called system-on-chip, or SOC, that is slated for use in smartphones as well as consumer electronics products. The smartphone and consumer electronics segments are already highly competitive, unlike the PC market, which is dominated by Intel.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
If they are targeting those types of devices I can see them being competitive, but the traditional PC market is pretty much left Intel and AMD.
I'd be interested to see what CPUs nVidia is developing. They're bringing out the APX 2500 for smartphones but unfortunately I doubt they would move into the desktop and notebook markets. I can only assume it just costs a lot more to enter this market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRON_Project
They've been at it for 25 years.
The complexity unintentionally added by Microsoft to it's OS lineup has created this conondrum specially on the driver and apps realm. With at least four different realms, and none sharing binary nor source code compatibility,
A) Windows 5.x (Server 2003, XP and XP Embedded): where most of the driver legacy exists. Based primarly on Win32, DNA and MFC, has the lion share of apps support from 10+ years of Windows development. Completely x86 locked, with no possible decoupling solution.
B) Windows 6.x (Vista,Server 2008, 7 and all new Embedded except CE): where Microsoft is putting most of its stakes, which is trailing 5.x in driver support and apps, although Win 7 adds a virtual 5.x image (but no legacy driver support is offered). Managed code should be platform-independent, but most ISV have avoided that path, mostly migrating to web and cloud based solutions. Win32 code is x86 locked.
C) Windows CE 5.x (Windows Mobile 6.5): Not desktop class, mostly niche market on SmartPhones and Pocket PCs. This OS has never been as complete as desired and has trailed behind in several areas, although it gained momentary success after debunking Palm OS but later fell pray to more modern, touch oriented OS like iPhone OS, Android and webOS. Microsoft is quietly abandoning this arch in favor of the more modern WCE 6.0 kernel, but driver support and apps support will suffer in a Vista-like panorama.
C) Windows Embedded CE 6.x (Windows Mobile 7.0): Microsoft's only contender in the Windows for ARM Smartbook space. One could assume that Microsoft is not standing still and its intent is refocus Windows Mobile 7.0 as gap filler transforming it into a Windows XP level OS, using the Embedded CE 6.0 kernel and a manage code UI. (No Compact Framework, just .net Framework 3.5 or 4.0)
If MS can sort thru this mess, none of the OS offered by the competition will match the completeness of Windows offering. But if it fails, all its lines will suffer from the fall. We should see what happens in th end.
- by luke_marsh September 10, 2009 3:07 PM PDT
- In the processor design there is still bottle necks where the Processor can run fast Integer Operations and fast Floating point operations and hence when running in order can do very well but when faced with the complex types of Integer&FPU operations that one might make use of to try to gain the best computational reducibility for dealing with supercomputing like operations on a high powered PC for real time graphics in a few years such processors still will suffer many bottlenecks and that goes for all the processors. The closest design there is for dealing with this well is the IA64 military design version which if I'm not mistaken finishes it's exclusivity contract with Intel this year Although there are some interesting chip designs out there. So If japan and China were really to go for it they would look down these avenues or High Iop and Flop integration wouldn't they.
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