Multi-core smartphones! (Not the iPhone, yet)
At the Mobile World Congress in Spain this week, ARM is teaming up with ST-Ericsson to show off its new Cortex-A9 multi-core processor. At a private event, the companies will be demonstrating what it says is the first Symmetric Multi Processing (SMP) model running on the Symbian mobile operating system. Symbian, while still the world’s largest smartphone operating system (with nearly 50 percent of the market in Q3 2008), fails to elicit the excitement of… Continue Reading
ARMs race: Apple developing its own chips for the iPhone
When Apple purchased Silicon Valley-based chip maker PA Semi back in April, the rationale seemed clear: Apple would now be able to build its own microprocessors for use in its iPhone and possiblly iPod products. That was confirmed in June by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs himself, but it still wasn’t clear what kind of chips these would be. It seems the answer to that is ARM chips, according to an Apple employee profile on… Continue Reading
A quake in the iPhone supply chain: Apple buys chip maker PA Semi
updated with info about VC backing
In a move with a lot of strategic implications, Apple is reportedly buying Silicon Valley chip maker PA Semi for $278 million, according to a report from Forbes.
I suppose this is only fair, since Apple ruined PA Semi’s original business plan. Founded by Dan Dobberpuhl in 2003, PA Semi started out designing PowerPC microprocessors for Apple’s low-power laptops. Then Apple threw a monkey wrench in that plan and switched to… Continue Reading
Montalvo seeking a hoard of cash to avoid shutdown
Montalvo Systems has been seeking a hoard of cash in its latest fundraising round, but the chip startup is dangerously close to running out of money, VentureBeat has learned.
Although it raised $73 million, the company has run into problems finishing a chip that will compete with Intel in the low-power portable devices market, a market where chip giant Intel has become increasingly competitive. The company grew to nearly 300 employees in Santa Clara and India,… Continue Reading