AMD announced several new chips at CES 2013 today, in an effort to defend its turf from Intel on the one hand and ARM-based mobile processor manufacturers on the other.

Its most interesting announcement had to do with two new chips, known as accelerated processing units (APUs), which include graphics acceleration as well as basic computation and other functions. Codenamed “Temash” and “Kabini,” these “system-on-a-chip” (SoC) processors use the same x86 architecture as most desktop and notebook computers but with far lower power consumption, like the ARM chips used in many smartphones and tablets. Both will have four cores, making them roughly comparable to Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor, an ARM chip. They’ll be available by the middle of this year.

(Nvidia, meanwhile, has leaped ahead to 72 cores with its Tegra 4 processor, also announced today.)

According to AMD:

• Temash is a high-performance, low-power processor for Windows 8 tablets and hybrids. It will be twice as fast as its precursor (dubbed “Hondo”) in terms of visual processing power.
• Kabini is meant for ultrathin notebooks and offers a balance of performance and battery consumption, with dual- and quad-core versions. It will be 50 percent faster in general processing power than the predecessor chip (“Brazos 2.0″).
• A third SoC, “Richland,” is shipping now and will offer visual processing performance increases of 20-40 percent. It will also be bundled with special software for gesture and facial recognition.
• A fourth chip, “Kaveri,” will succeed Richland and will be based on a new 28nm manufacturing process but won’t be available until the second half of the year.

In addition, AMD announced a pair of new graphics processing units (GPUs), the Radeon HD 8000 for desktops and the Radeon HD 8000M for notebooks. Both are based on AMD’s “Graphics Core Next” architecture, have support for DirectX 11.1, and include additional video acceleration and power management features.

Sorry, overclockers, the HD 8000 is only available to computer manufacturers for now.

AMD trotted out three manufacturing partners that will be using its chips and said others would be coming. Vizio’s new AMD devices will include an 11.6-inch APU-powered tablet, two high-performance ultrathin notebooks, and a 24-inch all-in-one computer. Asus will put an AMD A-Series APU into its Asus U38 device. And HP will use the A-Series chip in its TouchSmart SleekBook, a Windows 8 notebook.

Photo: Demonstration of AMD Face Login, one of AMD’s software tools that accompany the Richland chip. Source: AMD

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple has tapped Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) to build its next-generation A6 chip, which has just begun trial production, Taiwan Economic News reports.

The A6 is expected to be an even faster performing dual-core mobile chip for Apple’s devices. It could be unveiled as soon as the second quarter of next year, according to the report, a possible hint that we’ll see a new iPad with the A6 early next year.

Apple previously relied on Samsung to build its A4 and A5 system-on-a-chip processors, but we reported back in June that Apple could task TSMC with A6 building duties for its next chip due to an ongoing legal battle with Samsung. Apple asserts that Samsung’s Android smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copy its own designs and filed suit against the company in April. Apple has already managed to stop sales of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia and Europe.

“TSMC has applied its newest 28-nanometer process and 3D stacking technologies to produce the next-generation processor A6, which is based on the ARM architecture and will undergo TSMC’s cutting-edge silicon interposer and bump on trace (BOT) methodologies,” Taiwan Economic News’ Steve Chuang writes.

We’ve asked TSMC for comment on the news, but the company has yet to publicly acknowledge its business relationship with Apple.

Sources tell the paper that TSMC, the world’s biggest chip builder, could have built Apple’s previous chips, but it was already booked with orders from customers like Nvidia and Qualcomm. The company now has room for Apple since the chip industry is experiencing a depression.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

We’re going to be seeing Nvidia’s dual-core Tegra 2 chip on a slew of devices this year, including Motorola’s Xoom tablet and LG’s Optimus 2X phone. Now it looks like Nvidia has quad-core ambitions for the chip’s next iteration, the Tegra 3, according to an internal slide revealed by Bright Side of News.

The news means we can expect even more powerful phones and tablets later this year and that the line between mobile devices and traditional computers will be blurred even further.

According to the slide, the tablet version of the Tegra 3 chip will run at speeds up to 1.5 gigahertz, support Blu-ray video and screen resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels (slightly higher than 1080p high-definition video). The notion of Blu-ray drives in tablets is silly, but the chip’s support for it could mean that Nvidia envisions the Tegra 3 as something that can also be used in ultraportable laptops, all-in-one desktops or kiosks. Nvidia also touts an ultra low power mode that will prevent the CPU from being a battery hog.

The phone version of the Tegra 3 will be available in quad or dual-core varieties and support displays up to 1366 by 768 pixels in resolution, something most often seen in laptops around 13 inches. I can’t imagine why quad-core CPUs would be justified in a phone, but as a gadget geek it’s still exciting to see hardware boundaries pushed.

The same slide also reveals that Nvidia has a 3D version of the Tegra 2 on the horizon, which could be used to bring 3D capabilities to mobile devices.

Tegra 3 devices will start appearing at the end of the year.

Via Engadget

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company produces the Nvidia Tegra — a system on a chip much like Apple’s A4 processor in its iPhone and iPod Touch devices — for use in mobile devices like phones. The Tegra is a combination of Nvidia’s graphics processing technology and other ARM-based chips. It’s competing for marketshare in a somewhat crowded space, as Advanced Micro Devices and Intel also produce low-power system-on-a-chip products for use in mobile devices.

The Tegra will be included in a number of smartphones run on Google’s Android operating system, according to a report by Reuters. That should give Nvidia a nice boost to its primary market, which is mainly video processors for gamers. Nvidia recently announced a new lineup of video processors, the GTX 580 GPU, that once again broke the record for the fastest graphics processor.

Its most recent quarterly performance wasn’t quite as stellar as its outlook. Nvidia reported a 21 percent drop in profit, from $108 million in the third quarter a year ago to $85 million in the third quarter this year. Nvidia’s revenue also fell 6.5 percent to $844 million in the third quarter this year, down from $903 in the same quarter a year earlier. Nvidia said it expects 3 to 5 percent growth in revenue for the upcoming quarter.

That’s likely a result of the recent slowing growth in chip sales. Chip sales grew 26.2 percent in September compared to the same month a year earlier but were only up 2.9 percent from the month before. Chip sales are usually an indicator of demand for the devices they power, such as computers, phones and other mobile devices. The chip sales likely indicate weakening demand for gadgets and computers heading into the holiday shopping season — which makes Nvidia’s outlook all the more surprising.

Its earnings reports today were in line with the expectations of a number of Wall Street analysts, so there wasn’t much of a downside for investors. They were instead satisfied with the upbeat outlook from the GPU manufacturer. Shares of Nvidia were up 4.5 percent to $13.18 in extended trading today.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Intel isn’t happy just putting its chips into every imaginable device. It now wants to help developers sell apps that run on the devices its chip powers, too.

Today at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Intel launched its E600 Atom processor for embedded devices, a category of devices simpler than a traditional computer or smartphone which can include anything from a taxi advertising display to an Internet-connected treadmill.

But Intel isn’t satisfied with just providing chips to run those devices. It’s betting on the connectivity and massive breadth of devices — which include mobile phones, smart TVs and netbooks — that contain Atom processors to woo app developers. AppUp, the app development and distribution platform for Intel’s Atom processing architecture, also launched today into a world already dominated by Google’s Android marketplace and Apple’s App Store.

Intel, in short, is trying to brace itself against a world in which users code to specific devices or operating systems rather than the underlying microprocessor — which is, for Intel, a rather frightening prospect.

So far, the AppUp program has around 450,000 users and 23,000 program members, and offers some incentives for developing top-of-the-line apps. Rick Vanner, the co-founder of Game Creator, won a car for his efforts developing for AppUp.

Intel is partnering with Best Buy, Croma, Dixons Retail and Asus to distribute the AppUp developer platform. Best Buy, one of the largest electronics retailers in the U.S., is providing AppUp on its website and will sell Samsung devices that have AppUp pre-loaded.

Havok, which Intel acquired in 2007, also announced it will be providing its physics engine software-development kit for Atom architecture. The move could be another indicator that Intel is looking to take on Apple, as Apple has recently made a push to improve its gaming presence with its iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone platforms.

Intel also announced a new line of Atom processors for standard mobile platforms, including tablets, mobile phones and embedded devices. The CE 4200 series includes an H.264 encoder and integrated power management — and obviously improves on the last Atom processor’s capabilities. The Oak Trail processor for Tablets also allows for improved battery life and lets users to port an operating system of their choice onto the tablet.