Newsmaker: Is the PowerPC due for a second wind?

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Weren't you there during the discussions when IBM convinced Apple to adopt the G5?
Mayer: In my previous job, I ran IBM's semiconductor business. So I've seen both sides of the Apple story, because I sold the G5 to Steve (Jobs) the first time he wanted to move to Intel.

Five years ago?
Mayer: Yeah, that's about right. So I sold the G5. First I told IBM that we needed to do it, and then I sold it to Apple that the G5 was good and it was going to be the follow-on of the PowerPC road map for the desktop. It worked pretty well. And then IBM decided not to take the G5 into the laptop and decided to really focus its chip business on the game consoles.

Because there is no innovation left on the PC?
Mayer: It's not that the PC is dead. It's a huge business.

We are most probably going to revitalize our PowerPC. I don't know if it's going to be called PowerPC. A lot of people have questions on the PowerPC architecture and what's going on. I think IBM and us need to make a very strong statement that, "Hey, a lot of applications are using that architecture, it's alive, it's there to last, don't get confused because there are many more PowerPC chips than IBM's Power architecture chips sold in the world."

Because people have that personal link to that PC, they tend to equate processing with PCs, and they don't realize that there are increasingly tens, if not hundreds, of processors that you use every day, and those things are quickly becoming much more powerful.

You're going to be shocked I'm sure, but the PowerPC drives the engine control, the power train application in some automobiles. And by next year, 50 percent of car (models) in the world will have PowerPCs.

That's a lot of processing power for fuel injection in a car. Does it really need a microprocessor like a PowerPC?
Mayer: Yes.

Why?
Mayer: Because you have hundreds of thousands of lines of code running on some car systems already. People don't realize how complex cars have become.

Name a car.
Mayer: The BMW 7 Series v6...it sits on the side of the six cylinders. Today, it is a 16-bit PowerPC chip.

And next year it'll be a 32-bit?
Mayer: 32-bit.

So right now, if I tore apart a BMW and took out all the silicon, how many Freescale chips would I find?
Mayer: 52 Freescale chips in both the 7 Series and the 5 series.

And they control??
Mayer: Air bag deployment, moving the seats, the power train, Telematics, OnStar, entertainment systems, the transmission...

So instead of sitting in front of your PC, you're actually driving your PC?
Mayer: Right.

Talk about spreading your wings and moving away from Motorola. Has that been beneficial for you, or has it been actually a challenge? Freescale is not a household name.
Mayer: Of course, Motorola is a very strong brand, and we are very proud of the Motorola heritage...Now that being said, we are not a consumer brand. We sell to people who design products...so for them, I really believe we are already a household name.

More Newsmakers

[Captain_Spock]

This news certainly sounds great....

..."We are most probably going to revitalize our PowerPC. I don't know if it's going to be called PowerPC"... therefore -- OS/2 for PowerPC:

http://www.os2world.com/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?category=33&id=1111326518

[feranick]

BMW 7 series "v6"?

BMW traditionally and by definition doesn't use V6 engines, only 6 inline or V8 and V12. There is either a typo (v8?) or Mayer has no idea of what is talikng about.

[ccwilli3]

7 series V6

you are correct. No BMW V6s and surely not a 6 cyl in the 7 Series anyway. Maybe he means the V8 or the V12. Maybe he means the i6 in the 5 series...

Who knows... If not a typo, definitly says a lot about what he DOESN'T know about his customers' use of his product.

[Dibbs]

version 6

perhaps he was talking about version 6. the 7 series (as do all BMW models) has gone through several revisions. i don't know how many, but 6 does not seem unreasonable. not that all six have made it to the market. maybe one or two didn't because they thought of something better.

i think this makes sense because the current 7 came out in 2001. that's almost five years ago! plenty of time for at least 4 revisions, if not more.

[ray08]

He's correct on most of his statements...

I used to work for Cummins Engine Co. Their newest ECM (Control module) used the Motorola MPC555 PowerPC. The MPC555 was a "custom" PowerPC with ECM enhancements such as a bank of timers (to control injectors) and on board Flash memory. BTW, the Cummins ECM's were built by Motorola (now Freescale) in Seguin Texas. Ford is also a really big Freescale customer.

[WESTCOASTCORES]

CUMMINS ECM'S

I HAPPEN TO SEE THESE COMMENTS THAT U WORKED FOR CUMMINS. MY NAME IS DON JENNER AND IM WITH JBALL ELEACTRONICS DIV OF WWW.WESTCOASTCORES.COM ,WERE RECONDITIONING CUMMINS ECM'S DETROIT,CAT ETC. I THOUGHT I'D TRY AND PICK YOUR MIND ON SOME OF THE COMPONENTS USED IN THE CUMMINS ECM'S.WE RECALIBRATE AND NOW WERE TRYING TO REPAIR THEM AND WE'RE INTERESTED ON WHERE WE CAN ACQUIRE COILS THAT ARE FAULTY,ETC DO U HAVE INFO OR LEADS ON ANYTHING WE NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR?

Ouch.

>Q: Will Cadence be responsible for all the
>chips that Freescale produces from the PowerPC,
>all the way down to small embedded wireless
>radios?

>Mayer: Yes, everything. Even analog.

>How much more are you planning on streamlining?

>Mayer: Cost savings are one element, but it's
>really more about being more effective. Our
>existing structure, which was dispersed, >allowed the centralized little groups to make
>their own decisions in terms of design tool
>environments. We didn't think it was going to
>make it...

Translation:

1. All of our chips will now be designed
by Cadence. . . in India.

2. You'd better believe that this is about
cost savings. It's also about the stock price.

3. I don't want those little Engineers making
decisions about which chip design tools to get.
That's a management decision.

4. Intel has kicked the cr-p out of us on
the desktop, and is about to take over the
cell phone market, but, by golly, we still
have the car chip market!


Wow. Time to sell your stock, people.

[feranick]

inline 6 in Europe

The 7 series is available in Europe with two inline 6: the 730i (3 liters, gas), and the 730d (3 liters, diesel.

[feranick]

Sorry...

... this post was supposed to be a reply for my previous post...

[javierlopezroman]

error? yes, but who's?

One cannot assume that the the interviewed is the source of the error. It could be the writer or editor. It could be bad notes or a single incident of mis-spoken words.

See, most people assume (believe) that a 6cyl engine is in a V configuration, just as it is virtually known (assumed) that all 4cyl engines are inline (I or L) configurations.

One should not make definite statements without definity.

[napi1962]

PowerPC and Automotive industry

Although processors from Freescale and Intel are being used widely in the automotive industry, many car manufacturers are going JVM to side-step the headaches of having to support the numerous platforms/OSes.

[Captain_Spock]

The assumption is that JVM...

... is short for Java Virtual Machine (and, this runs best on OS/2); is that correct! ;-)

[Lolo Gecko]

7448 could be a winner

:)