As Intel readies its most potent chip yet for small devices, Apple may already be using competing technology.
.jpg)
Apple iPhone 3GS processor
(Credit: iFixit)One of the themes of the upcoming Intel Developer Forum (starting Tuesday) will be the chip giant's foray into the smartphone and mobile Internet device (MID) markets. Intel's current Atom chip is fine for Netbooks but has had little impact on MIDs and zero impact on smartphones, where it is simply too power hungry to be usable.
Enter Moorestown. A much more power efficient Atom chip, due by 2010, that should find its way into high-end LG smartphones, MIDs from Asian device makers, and tablets (from HP? Dell?).
Just so happens that Apple is doing analogous chip development. When Apple acquired chip design firm P.A. Semi in March 2008 it got a team of very capable engineers that, almost certainly, are designing silicon for future iPhones, iPods, and tablets (or "media pads"--choose your nomenclature).
But it's really not even necessary to speculate about the future. The Apple chip has already arrived (see photo). Some analysts believe that the Apple-branded chip in the iPhone is a fairly unique design and that Apple is simply using Samsung as a chip "foundry" or manufacturer. That would mean Apple is already competing with Intel's Atom, not to mention the host of ARM chip suppliers such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm.
And where might Apple supply its own silicon in the future? Beyond the iPhone--where Intel clearly has nothing to offer currently--there's the expected emerging tablet and MID markets. Make the iPod touch's screen a few inches bigger diagonally, add a few more features and you theoretically have a MID. (Some, of course, will argue that the iPod is already a MID/media player.) Make the screen even bigger (8 to 10 inches), give it more compute and graphics horsepower, and add a few more software and hardware bells and whistles, and you theoretically have a next-generation Apple tablet and/or media pad.
Those are all markets where Intel's Moorestown (and, later, Medfield) will compete.
Apple has a current market capitalization of about $165 billion (Intel's is about $110 billion). Two heavyweights with two competing visions of small devices. Will one of the big battlegrounds of the future be Apple tablets versus Intel-based tablets? Or--perish the thought--an Apple Netbook using an Apple chip instead of an Intel Atom? It's tantalizing to speculate.
And 2010 is just around the corner. It should be an interesting year for fresh new device designs and equally interesting competition between two computer industry Goliaths.
Note: Here's the official Intel description of Moorestown: "Intel's second-generation MID platform, which consists of a System on Chip (codenamed 'Lincroft') that integrates a 45nm Intel Atom processor core, graphics, video and memory controller. The platform also includes an input/output (I/O) hub, codenamed 'Langwell,' that includes a range of I/O blocks and supports wireless solutions.
(See: CNET Reporters Roundtable discussion of IDF and other Intel topics.)
Intel's Medfield is the chip that will drive the chipmaker's smartphone strategy in 2011 and beyond, according to an Intel executive speaking recently at an Intel investor meeting.
Slides (accessible on Intel's Web site) shown by Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, at last week's Intel investor meeting map out the road Intel will take to the mainstream smartphone market. (The slides were highlighted on technology sites such as Engadget and UMPC Portal).
Intel is taking a graduated approach to the smartphone market: the ultimate target is the mainstream smartphone
(Credit: Intel)Intel's Medfield was first disclosed in December.
Chandrasekher showed a slide that put Medfield in the mainstream smartphone market by 2011 by reducing the size and power requirements of the chip. "We take the power down again using 32-nanometer (technology), we, of course, take the performance up using 32 nanometer. But we also consolidated everything onto one chip and shrink the form factor (smartphone design) down again," Chandrasekher said at the investor meeting, which was streamed over the Web.
"We got to get the power down so we can get all-day battery life and get the (chip) package (size) down," he said. "It's not going to be (that in) one generation we fix everything," he added.
Chandrasekher said Intel's biggest advantage in the mobile Internet device and smartphone market is the most obvious: Intel's x86 architecture that runs the world's PCs.
He also offered some updates for Moorestown, the chip that will precede Medfield. "Last year I said we're going to do better then 10X on platform idle power (reduction over the current Menlow technology) on Moorestown. Today, I'm telling you, for the first time outside the walls of Intel, we're going to do 50X better on idle power," he said. The idle power will be 20 milliwatts at the "platform level"--which refers to the idle power (or standby mode) of the actual device, such as a smartphone, not the just chip, according to Chandrasekher.
Chandrasekher also clarified that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will be making the "Langwell" half of the Moorestown silicon. "That second chip (Langwell) we manufacture on TSMC because there's a lot of that IP (intellectual property) sitting on TSMC today," he said.
For comparison, he showed a current Google Android-based phone that had idle power of 20 milliwatts.
At Intel's investor meeting Tuesday, CEO Paul Otellini discussed how the company is moving to system-on-chip technology in a big way.
Otellini began by saying that the market outlook remains positive. "A little better than we expected. So far, so good." He said he was "more firm in my belief that we will see seasonality in the second half," alluding to Intel's expectation that the PC market should pick up in the second half of the year. Otellini added that Gartner's forecast of a PC sales decline between 9 and 10 percent in 2009 may be too pessimistic.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini answers a question during the Intel investor meeting Tuesday
System-on-chip (SOC) opportunities will be driven by Intel's upcoming 32-nanometer technology. "All that you're doing is reducing (a computer) system to a single chip," he said. Market segments that will benefit from this technology are Netbooks, smartphones, and embedded devices, he said, adding that Netbooks and smartphones each represent a $10 billion market opportunity by 2011.
Otellini talked up Intel's new relationship with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which involves "deep collaboration" on the Atom SOC chips used in smartphones. It means, he said, "taking Atom and porting it over to the TSMC process, to help further Intel architecture into those new markets."
Traditional PC markets will give way to "targeted micro-segments" such as the high-end desktop gaming segment, exemplified by PCs from Voodoo and Alienware, Otellini said. "The old big, beige, boring desktop is dead." Intel's upcoming Larrabee graphics chip will address this market, in addition to standard multicore processors.
The consumer desktop market will be transitioning to iMac-style all-in-one systems, Otellini said. There will be Atom-based "Nettops," small entry-level computers priced at a couple hundred dollars, he said. The desktop market will see "small growth" as people incrementally replace the 800 million units in use.
Otellini said Intel will mix and match technology across different product segments very quickly now--the number of cores and the type of graphics, for example, will be quickly rejiggered across different product categories.
Intel views its fab (factory) strategy as extremely important. Otellini said that Intel is one of the few companies that has committed to a next-generation 22-nanometer manufacturing process. "Intel was able to create a market for Netbooks faster than the (Nintendo) Wii and iPhone...Only Intel has the (manufacturing) scale to do this," he said.
Updated at 9:35 p.m. PST with updated list of Atom Z5xx series processors.
A lot happened in the chip world Monday. Amid all the commotion, Intel announced a new line of Atom processors.
In addition to Intel's watershed deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to essentially co-manufacture Atom processors, Advanced Micro Devices officially split in two, and Spansion filed for bankruptcy protection.
But in case you missed it, Intel also rolled out new Atom Z5xx series processors. Four "unique" new versions in all, according to Intel. What's different about this Atom announcement is that Intel is saying clearly for the first time that a shipping Atom product is targeting phones--or what it is calling "media phones." To date, Intel has used nomenclature like "MID" (mobile Internet device) or "Internet devices" for other Atom models.
Intel Z5xx series of Atom processors with new models listed
(Credit: Intel)That said, don't expect to see these Atom processors in many smartphones. That won't happen until Intel brings out the next version of Atom called Moorestown, due late this year or next year. That chip will be lower power than current Atom processors, in order to meet smartphone battery-life requirements, and more highly integrated. Moorestown is the chip that LG Electronics plans to use in a future smartphone.
Intel is also targeting the chips at embedded industrial applications--potentially the largest market--and in-car infotainment devices.
Texas Instruments sent out a little reminder on Monday that it won't be a cakewalk into the smartphone market for newcomers Intel and Nvidia.
While Intel announced LG Electronics as its first smartphone customer and Nvidia hawks its initial mobile phone technology platforms to prospective customers, TI continues to upgrade its arsenal of ARM-design-based processors, which have been shipping for years to cell phone customers. (Samsung and Palm--and the latter's newest Palm Pre--are among TI's customers.)
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, TI announced a new OMAP 4 mobile chip platform that will allow smartphones to do 1080p video record and playback and integrate 20-megapixel cameras. TI claims the OMAP 4 will deliver 10-times-faster Web page loading times, more than 7 times higher computing performance, and 10 times better graphics performance than its current OMAP processors.
The OMAP 4 processor is based on the dual-core ARM Cortex A9 MPCore supporting symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and capable of speeds of more than 1GHz per core, according to TI. Basic ARM processor designs are licensed by U.K.-based ARM Holdings to companies like Texas Instruments and Qualcomm that tweak the design and then manufacture the chip.
OMAP 4 platform and development tools are expected to sample in the second half of 2009, with production expected by the second half of 2010.
TI also said Monday that it is adding to the OMAP 3 family with silicon based on 45-nanometer processor technology. (Intel is also using 45-nanometer manufacturing technology for its upcoming Moorestown smartphone chip.)
The OMAP36x series will run at speeds up to 1GHz, offer a dedicated graphics hardware accelerator for 3D gaming, and support 720p high-definition video recording and playback and 12-megapixel cameras.
The silicon is scheduled to sample in the third quarter.
The Intel architecture is coming to smartphones.
LG Electronics and Intel are announcing a collaboration based on Intel's Moorestown silicon and the Linux Moblin v2.0 software platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. The future LG device--which is being described as a smartphone--is expected to be one of the first Moorestown designs to market.
Moorestown is the code name for the successor to Intel's current Atom processor.
"LG and Intel's common goal is to unleash rich Internet experiences across a range of mobile devices while delivering the functionality of today's high-end smartphones," the companies said in a statement.
The key to getting Intel chips that run all the most popular PC software into a phone is reducing the power consumption below the Atom chip used today in Netbooks, according to Ashok Kumar, an analyst at investment bank Collins Stewart. "If you look at the power consumption projectory, they dropped Atom to two watts and they expect to drop that (with Moorestown) by a factor of 10," Kumar said.
"That would squarely be in the power envelope of a smartphone," Kumar said. Intel mobile processors found in mainstream laptops have a thermal envelope of between 25 and 35 watts.
But whether Moorestown can actually achieve the energy frugality of silicon from longtime cell phone silicon suppliers like Qualcomm and Texas Instruments remains to be seen. Toshiba recently disclosed that its using Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip in a future phone and Qualcomm supplied the main processor in the first phone using Google's Android OS.
Moorestown will also be used in MIDs or mobile Internet devices. And it seems, at times, that the terms smartphone and MID are used almost interchangeably. "The MID segment will drive growth at LG Electronics. We chose Intel's next-generation Moorestown platform and Moblin-based OS to pursue this segment because of the high performance and Internet compatibility this brings to our service provider customers," Jung Jun Lee, executive vice president of LG Electronics, said in a statement.
Neither company gave a date for availability of the LG device, but it is expected to appear soon after Moorestown is available. Intel is saying that Moorestown will be available in 2009 or 2010, though the second half of 2009 appears increasingly likely.
There's life beyond WiMax. At the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei Intel is looking beyond that wireless technology to other communications methods for its upcoming Moorestown smartphone platform.
Intel senior vice president Anand Chandrasekher, speaking Monday at IDF, said that Intel will collaborate with Ericsson for High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) data modules for the Moorestown platform. WiMax is also supported, but it faces stiff competition from entrenched wireless technologies and may not be compelling enough to rise above the fray.
In addition to WiMax and HSPA, other wireless technologies including WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and mobile TV will be supported on Moorestown, Intel said.
Moorestown is a system-on-a-chip (SOC) comprised of "Lincroft," which integrates a 45-nanometer processor, graphics, memory controller, and video encode/decode onto a single chip. It also includes an "I/O hub" code-named Langwell that supports connection to wireless, storage, and display components.
Intel was also showing a number of slides that detail its upcoming Nehalem i7 processor and the accompanying X58 chipset. Intel said last week that Nehalem is shipping now and is due to be officially rolled out in November.
The i7 will initially appear as a quad-core processor and feature QuickPath Interconnect--a high-speed chip-to-chip communications technology--and "Turbo Boost," which had been referred to previously as "Turbo Mode." This is essentially a switch that turns off unused processor cores and then uses the remaining active cores more efficiently.
In Taipei, Intel also delineated the differences between Atom-based "Nettop" desktops and more mainstream desktop PCs. Intel is trying to promote Nettops for Web browsing, word processing, e-mail, and "legacy" games. Anything more taxing than these basic applications is not recommended for Nettops.
Intel Core i7 and x58 chipset features.
(Credit: Intel)
Intel Atom-based Nettop desktop.
(Credit: Intel)Update 9:23 a.m. PDT: Adds information on Intel showing a Moorestown-related wafer at IDF.
At the Intel Developer Forum, the chipmaker said it has achieved a milestone with its next-generation Moorestown processor, aimed at the smartphone market.
ZDNet video: Intel touts Moorestown 'mobile' chip
Moorestown, due in 2009 or 2010 will be--for Intel--a highly integrated chip, bringing it more in line with silicon designs in the smartphone market--at which Moorestown is targeted. For example, it will integrate components like the memory controller and graphics, boosting communication speeds between these crucial devices.
And, like Atom, it will run all the popular software on PCs today.
In a conversation wit Pankaj Kedia, director of Global Ecosystems Programs at Intel's Mobile Internet Devices group, he confirmed that Intel has achieved "first silicon" --a crucial first step in chip development--but would not confirm if this means Intel is ahead of schedule with the mobile platform that will follow the current Atom.
At IDF on Wednesday, Anand Chandrasekher, general manager for Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, showed a wafer with "Lincroft"--the main processor for Moorestown. This will be delivered "on or before the 2009-2010 time frame," he said.
Qualcomm has Snapdragon. Intel has Atom and Moorestown. Which of these chips is (will be) a more viable, compelling chip for the fit-in-your-pocket device and ultralight computer market? I'll let the reader decide.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon is a highly integrated chip that is shipping now. Products are due in Q1 2009.
(Credit: Qualcomm)All of these chips are targeted at mobile Internet devices, like the Apple iPhone, and ultralight (less than 3 pounds) notebooks, like the Asus Eee PC. Two (Snapdragon and Moorestown) are aimed at high-end smartphones.
Here's a very quick overview of the silicon. You decide which seem more compelling.
Atom is here now. For Intel, it is a very-low-power chip (but not considered low-power in the cell phone world), boasting a thermal envelope of about two watts, compared to 35 watts for a typical Intel Core 2 chip for laptops.
Atom, however, is not highly integrated. Graphics, audio, memory controller, and communications silicon are all on a separate chipset.
Importantly, Atom runs the same software and Web applications as any other x86 architecture Intel chip in a typical PC. This is a big selling point for Atom (or any Intel chip for that matter), according to Intel.
But Atom isn't fast. High-end Atom processors (1.6GHz) benchmark more or less on par with a low-end Celeron processor. (Celeron is Intel's low-end line of processors.) And Intel is on the record saying that Atom is similar in performance to circa 2003-2004 Pentium mobile chips.
Less is known about Intel's Moorestown (see graphic below), due in 2009 or 2010. This much is known: it will integrate additional logic, bringing it more in line with silicon designs in the smartphone market--at which Moorestown is targeted. For example, the SOC (system-on-a-chip) will integrate components like the memory controller and graphics, boosting communication speeds between these crucial devices. And, like Atom, it will run all the popular software on PCs today.
Enter Qualcomm and Snapdragon (aka Qualcomm QSD8250 and QSD8650), which is targeted at high-end smartphones and mobile Internet devices.
The key difference between Snapdragon and Atom (Intel's only well-documented processor for ultrasmall devices) is power and integration. Qualcomm--because of its background in the cell phone market where integration and low-power are the name of the game--has packed a lot of features onto one piece of silicon that is short on power consumption and long on battery life. By comparison, delivering integration and long battery life in a tiny device are not things Intel has focused on in the past.
(Qualcomm has been involved in the market for cell phone silicon since the early 1990s. Intel isn't even a player yet.)
Another salient point: Qualcomm isn't licensing the technology from ARM in the traditional sense. The company has licensed the instruction set only and then built its own processor, allowing it to boost the clock speed to 1GHz and beyond while keeping the power low. Snapdragon, however, is not a speed demon. It will offer relatively good performance within the targeted power envelope.
Key features: Snapdragon operates below 0.5 watts, is based on the newest ARM v7 instruction set, runs as fast as 1GHz, and integrates almost everything including the processor, GPS, an ATI graphics core, multimedia (digital signal processor), and 3G modem, all on one 15mm X 15mm piece of silicon (see graphic).
Qualcomm is claiming cell phone-like battery life.
The San Diego-based company is shipping Snapdragon to customers who will ship products in the first quarter of 2009. HTC and Samsung have announced that they will bring out products based on Snapdragon.
Moorestown silicon due in 2009-2010 is the closest thing Intel has to Qualcomm's Snapdragon
(Credit: Intel)Intel showed what it considers the smallest PC motherboard in the world at the Intel Developers Forum (IDF) in Shanghai. The motherboard, or main PC circuit board, will go into the company's next-generation "Moorestown" mobile Internet device (MID) platform due in the 2009-2010 time frame.
Intel's Anand Chandrasekher holding motherboard
(Credit: Intel Corp.)"Our engineers have been very hard at work on Moorestown," Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, said during an IDF keynote speech Wednesday. "The platform design teams have been hard at work in figuring out what is the smallest form factor that they can actually fit a complete PC motherboard into so they can deliver a great mobile Internet experience."
"What I'm holding in my hand is what is possibly the world's smallest PC motherboard," Chandrasekher said. The Moorestown motherboard houses the processor, chipset (including graphics), and memory, along with silicon for 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, he said. "This is the heart of the new machine."
Moorestown will be Intel's showcase system-on-a-chip, combining the CPU, graphics, and memory controller (and other silicon mentioned above) on a single die. It will likely be the main launching pad for Intel into the mobile phone market--what the chipmaker calls "MID phones." Moorestown may also be a major market for Intel's upcoming solid-state drives.
Intel Moorestown platform
(Credit: Intel Corp.)
