GlobalFoundries on Friday confirmed that the first products to be made using the company’s advanced 14nm LPP [low-power plus] manufacturing technology had been taped out. The contract maker of chips did not reveal any details, but indicated that prototype chips had demonstrated “excellent” performance and yields. One of the customers, …
Read More »Makers of tablets eager to get cheap Atom ‘Bay Trail’ while discounts last
Manufacturers of inexpensive tablets recently increased orders for Intel Corp.’s previous-generation Atom “Bay Trail” system-on-chips before the company cancels discounts and starts to gradually phase-out production of such microprocessors. Going forward Intel will cease to offer heavy price cuts on mobile SoCs. At present, the average price of an Intel …
Read More »GlobalFoundries: 14nm yields are exceeding our plans
GlobalFoundries, which started to manufacture chips using 14nm low-power early (14LPE) manufacturing technology several months ago, said on Friday that its yields exceed its original expectations. One of the world’s largest contract makers of semiconductors does not reveal its actual 14nm volumes, but since the chips are made for customers, …
Read More »Intel drained PC channel inventory to speed up transition to ‘Skylake’, Windows 10
Sales of personal computers have been sluggish in the recent quarters, which decreased revenue of PC makers and PC hardware manufacturers. Apparently, Intel Corp. has prepared for slow demand for PCs and significantly reduced shipments of its central processing units in the first half of the year, draining inventory at …
Read More »AMD engineer: Developers were given the total freedom with ‘Zen’
The “Zen” micro-architecture is a tremendously important project for Advanced Micro Devices. If the new technology is successful, AMD will become a viable developer of central processing units again. If not, the company will have troubles with surviving. Fortunately, “Zen” is a completely new micro-architecture that promises to be very …
Read More »GlobalFoundries develops 7nm and 10nm technologies in-house
GlobalFoundries is working on its own 7nm and 10nm fabrication processes and it does not look like the company has plans to license technologies from the outside. The contract maker of semiconductors hopes that specialists from IBM’s microelectronics unit will help it to design world-class leading-edge manufacturing processes. GlobalFoundries, which …
Read More »Legendary microprocessor developer Jim Keller leaves AMD
Advanced Micro Devices on Friday said that Jim Keller, a legendary microprocessor architect, will leave the company, effective immediately. Mr. Keller worked on multiple future generations of central processing units (CPUs) and system-on-chips (SoCs) at AMD, his departure will have an effect on the company’s long-term roadmap, but will not …
Read More »Intel will retain “Broadwell-C” as the best LGA CPU with built-in GPU
Even though Intel Corp.’s future “Skylake” processors with integrated graphics cores are expected to offer very high performance in applications that demand graphics processing horsepower, the company’s current-generation Core i7-5775C and Core i7-5665C “Broadwell” chips will remain the firm’s best offerings for desktops with sockets for quite a while. Intel’s …
Read More »OcUK ‘8Pack Approved’ kit includes Intel Core [email protected], other hardware
Overclockers UK has unveiled its new “Elite Tier Skylake” “8Pack Approved” hardware bundle that not only lets to build a high-end system at a discount price, but also includes Intel Core i7-6700K “Skylake” processors that are guaranteed to run at increased clock-rates. A lot of people enjoy overclocking. Modern central …
Read More »Intel will begin to sell mainstream ‘Skylake’ CPUs in late September
Even though Intel Corp. has formally introduced code-named “Skylake” microprocessors for desktop computers, many of such central processing units are still not available. Apparently, Intel only intends to start their sales to end-users in late September. It is not a secret that Intel’s latest CPUs for enthusiasts that feature unlocked …
Read More »Intel: Skipping ‘Broadwell’ CPUs for desktops was a mistake
Due to issues with yields, Intel Corp. had to delay mass production of central processing units made using 14nm fabrication process by almost a year. Instead of releasing enthusiast-class processors based on the “Broadwell” micro-architecture in 2014, the company decided to launch new “Haswell” chips with higher clock-rates. Right now, …
Read More »Intel: Over 800 “Skylake”-based mobile PC designs are incoming
Intel Corp. has done a lot to make its new code-named “Skylake” family of central processing units very competitive across all market segments they will eventually serve. The company also rolled-out an extremely broad lineup of such CPUs for various mobile computers and plans to expand it in the future. …
Read More »Apple’s iPad Pro and productivity tablets could be threat for Intel – Analyst
If Apple manages to popularize its iPad Pro tablet among professionals, then over time such devices could expand their market presence and compete against various notebooks and 2-in-1s based on microprocessors from Intel Corp. Even though Apple’s iPad Pro introduced this week leverages Apple iOS ecosystem, the new product does …
Read More »Chinese investors eye GlobalFoundries to get new process technologies
China's National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has reportedly approached GlobalFoundries about possible acquisition or cooperation. Chinese investors intend to take over GlobalFoundries in order to significantly improve Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and make it one of the world’s largest contract makers of semiconductors. China-based Hua Capital Management, which …
Read More »Intel pins a lot of hopes on small form-factor personal computers
Even though the market of personal computers has slowed down in the recent years, the PC continues its rapid development. Not only PCs are becoming more powerful, but they also change their form-factors. According to market analysts, one of the most promising segments of the PC market is the segment of highly …
Read More »AMD readies faster A8 and A10 accelerated processing units
Advanced Micro Devices is working on two new A8 and A10 accelerated processing units for desktop systems. The new chips will be based on the code-named “Kaveri” design and will not bring tangible performance improvements compared to existing APUs. Nonetheless, the new processors will help AMD to maintain average selling …
Read More »Deepcool introduces Lucifer K2 high-end CPU cooler
Deepcool, a well-known producer of high-end coolers and computer cases, on Tuesday introduced its new-generation Gamer Storm Lucifer K2 cooler, which supports all microprocessors available today, including the latest Intel Core i7/i5 “Skylake” central processing units in LGA1151 packaging. The Deepcool Gamer Storm Lucifer K2 processor cooler features massive aluminium …
Read More »Intel: Our foundry business is well, we have new customers
Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., claims that despite of lack of any announcements concerning its contract semiconductor manufacturing business unit, the latter is growing and is still an important opportunity for the chip giant. Moreover, it has new customers that Intel just cannot name. Intel established its …
Read More »Intel Core i7-6700K ‘Skylake’ hits nearly 7GHz
A professional overclocker has set a new record for Intel Core i7-6700K microprocessor frequency. This time the new code-named “Skylake” processor hit nearly 7GHz, which is among the highest frequencies ever achieved by any Intel Core i-series microprocessors. Chi-Kui Lam, a professional overclocker from Hong Kong-based HKEPC web-site, has managed …
Read More »Intel releases Quark microcontroller with 0.025W thermal design power
Intel Corp. has quietly released its new Quark D1000 microcontroller designed for smart electronics and embedded applications. The chip sports ultra-low power consumption and features x86 architecture. The Intel Quark D1000 microcontroller has one 32-bit x86 core clocked at 33MHz, lacks cache and has TDP of 0.025W. The Quark D1000 …
Read More »Intel ‘Skylake’ processors feature ‘reverse Hyper-Threading’ technology – report
Although Intel Corp. already sells its code-named “Skylake” microprocessors commercially, the company has not disclosed a lot of details about the new micro-architecture. Apparently, Intel’s new processors feature technology, which speeds up performance in single-threaded workloads using multiple cores. Heise.de reports that Intel’s new Core i7-6700K processor with four cores …
Read More »Asustek and Intel confirm global shortage of Intel “Skylake” chips
Chief executive officer of Asustek Computer confirmed on Friday that there is a shortage of Intel Corp.’s “Skylake” processors in the market. Last month a Sweden-based retailer warned enthusiasts about short supply of Intel’s new central processing units with unlocked multiplier. As it appears, the problem is not limited to …
Read More »Intel ‘Skylake-U’ processor lineup for notebooks detailed
A web-site has published complete specifications of Intel Corp.’s upcoming “Skylake-U” microprocessors for low-power laptops. The new central processing units will have thermal design power of around 15W and promise to significantly increase performance of ultra-thin notebooks. As reported, Intel will release its code-named “Skylake-U” processors in September. The Core …
Read More »AMD: We have very strong roadmap for GCN architecture
Despite of ongoing problems and lowering research and development budget, Advanced Micro Devices maintains optimism and claims that it will keep financing development of key products. In the recent months, Advanced Micro Devices has been criticized heavily for re-introducing its previous-generation graphics processing units under new names. The release of …
Read More »Intel to release ‘unlocked’ Core i7 CPUs for enthusiast notebooks
High-performance laptops aimed at gamers have been available on the market for many years. Moreover, it is not a secret that it is possible to overclock mobile processors using BIOS settings. This week Intel announced plans to release mobile central processing units with unlocked multiplier that will be designed specifically …
Read More »Samsung to offer its Exynos SoCs to other smartphone makers
Samsung Electronics may become a new rival for Qualcomm, MediaTek and other suppliers of mobile system-on-chips as the company reportedly plans to sell its Exynos 7420 processors to third parties. For a long time, Samsung Electronics used application processors from Qualcomm inside its premium smartphones, but in the recent years …
Read More »Intel Core i7-6700K hits 6.8GHz with all cores active on MSI ‘Titanium’ platform
A professional overclocker this week managed to push Intel Corp.’s latest Core i7-6700K “Skylake-S” microprocessor to whopping 6.80GHz without disabling any cores or Hyper-Threading technology. The record was set on MicroStar International’s flagship MSI Z170A XPower Gaming Titanium mainboard. Toppc, a professional overclocker from Taiwan, this week overclocked an engineering …
Read More »Prices of Intel “Skylake” processors for desktops revealed
A web-site has published the finalized prices of Intel Corp.’s “Skylake-S” processors for desktops. The new central processing units will cost about the same amount of money as existing chips, the world’s largest maker of microprocessors will not increase prices of its products. The flagship Intel Core i7-6700K (four cores …
Read More »AMD is researching multi-core ‘exascale heterogeneous processor’
Advanced Micro Devices has confirmed that it is researching a multi-core accelerated processing unit based on “Zen” micro-architecture, which will eventually power supercomputers with extreme performance. At present the company is only considering a concept design and it is unclear when AMD decides to actually develop such processor. AMD, just …
Read More »Intel Core “Skylake-S” CPUs to sport advanced power supply circuitry
Intel Corp.’s “Devil’s Canyon” processors have demonstrated that it is possible to significantly improve overclocking potential of a central processing unit without re-spinning it by revamping its power supply circuitry. As it appears, Intel’s new “Skylake-S” microprocessors with unlocked multiplier will also feature a very advanced power supply circuitry, which …
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