Slow demand for personal computers in the first half of the year substantially affected Intel Corp.’s business results, but the company remains moderately optimistic and believes that launches of its future microprocessors code-named “Skylake” as well as Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 10 operating system will help its PC business. Intel’s client …
Read More »Samsung to make 14nm graphics processors for Nvidia
Nvidia Corp. will use Samsung Electronics’ manufacturing capacities to produce graphics processing units, according to a media report. The move will help Nvidia to increase performance of its GPUs without boosting their power consumption. When Nvidia revealed earlier this year that it will use Samsung’s services to build its chips, …
Read More »Intel and Altera acquisition talks end due to price disagreement
Negotiations between Intel Corp. and Altera have ended because the companies could not agree on price. The world’s largest maker of microprocessors did not want to pay a hefty premium for the company, which is more profitable than Intel itself. If the chipmaker really wants to get Altera, the talks will …
Read More »Intel: Moore’s law will last for another 10 years
Intel Corp. predicts that Moore’s law will last for at least another decade and the number of transistors per chip will keep doubling every two years. While there are challenges ahead, Intel’s engineers are going to solve them. Later this month Moore’s law will hit 50 years, an unprecedented date for the …
Read More »GlobalFoundries: Our lead 14nm product is yielding in double digits
GlobalFoundries on Tuesday clarified claims about its ramp up of 14nm chip production at fab 8 manufacturing facility in Malta, New York. The world's second largest contract maker of semiconductors has taped out multiple 14nm designs and is tweaking its equipment using a lead product at the moment. The company is …
Read More »Mubadala: GlobalFoundries begins to ramp up production of 14nm chips
Mubadala Development Co., the Abu Dhabi-based investment and development company, said this week that GlobalFoundries, which is owned by Mubadala, has already begun to ramp up production of chips using 14nm fabrication process. “GlobalFoundries announced a strategic collaboration with Samsung to deliver capacity at 14nm, one of the industry’s most …
Read More »GlobalFoundries and Samsung to produce Apple’s next A9 SoC together – report
Based on the recent market rumours, Samsung Foundry and GlobalFoundries have landed orders to produce Apple’s A9 system-on-chip that will power the company’s next-generation iPhone and iPad devices. It is unknown whether Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. will also produce the A9 SoC at any point. At present Apple’s A8 application …
Read More »TSMC loses orders to UMC, Chinese manufacturers
For many years Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been gaining market share by grabbing orders from smaller rivals. However, in the recent quarters companies like United Microelectronics Corp. managed to increase their yields and started to snatch orders from TSMC. While the latter will retain its positions, the situation seems …
Read More »Intel to unveil 14nm Celeron and Pentium chips with 4W – 6W TDP
Intel Corp. this week plans to announce a new family of inexpensive Celeron and Pentium central processing units made using 14nm fabrication process. Previously known as code-named “Braswell” microprocessors, the new chips significantly increase performance in multimedia applications compared to previous-generation “Bay Trail” system-on-chips. The new SoCs will be used …
Read More »AMD readies ‘Greenland’ graphics processor
Advanced Micro Devices is working on a new graphics processing unit code-named “Greenland”, which will be released next year. The new graphics chip will replace code-named “Fiji” GPU and will be AMD’s flagship graphics solution in 2016. Nothing particular is known about the forthcoming Radeon graphics processor, except its code-name. …
Read More »Intel gets ready for its largest acquisition ever – report
Intel Corp. is negotiating with Altera Corp., a developer of system-on-chips, field programmable gate arrays and other specialty devices, over a possible takeover. The acquisition could strengthen Intel’s positions across many markets. The transaction could top $10 billion, which will be Intel’s biggest purchase ever. Altera develops and sells field …
Read More »Nvidia could outsource production of GPUs to Intel – analyst
After using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. to make all of its chips almost exclusively for nearly a decade, Nvidia Corp. this year signed an agreement to produce a portion of its products at Samsung Foundry. But that could only be a part of Nvidia’s new strategy, according to a financial …
Read More »Intel could limit “Broadwell” LGA1150 CPU family to two chips
Intel Corp.’s code-named “Broadwell” microprocessors are not going to have a long lifespan on any markets since their successors – code-named “Skylake” chips – are ready to hit the market. Moreover, if a new media report is correct, the world’s largest chipmaker plans to limit availability of “Broadwell” CPUs on the …
Read More »Nvidia starts to use Samsung as a chip manufacturing partner – company
Nvidia Corp. and Samsung Electronics have quietly signed an agreement under which the latter will produce computer chips for the former. At present, it is unknown whether Samsung will manufacture graphics processors or application processors for the chip designer, but it is obvious that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is no …
Read More »AMD cuts ‘Bulldozer’ instructions from ‘Zen’ processors
Advanced Micro Devices has been talking about development of its next-generation high-performance “Zen” architecture for months now, but so far it has not revealed any details about the chips officially. Nonetheless, thanks to a recent patch for Linux we have learnt one significant detail about “Zen”: it will not support many …
Read More »AMD begins to enable ‘Zen’ processors support in Linux
Advanced Micro Devices has begun to add support of its upcoming microprocessors powered by “Zen” micro-architecture to Linux operating systems. The enablement of future chips in Linux confirms AMD’s plans to release such central processing units and even reveals some facts about their functionality. Unfortunately, addition of support does not …
Read More »Mainboards for Intel ‘Skylake’ chips to hit the market in September
With 14nm fabrication process finally mature enough for production of high-end microprocessors, Intel Corp. feels itself pretty comfortable. With no or little competitive pressure from Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s largest chipmaker can release new products when it makes the most business sense for it. The company takes advantage of …
Read More »Asustek’s Intel Z97 and H97 mainboards now support ‘Broadwell’ CPUs
Intel Corp.’s code-named “Broadwell” processors are still two or three months away, but mainboard makers are already preparing for their arrival. Asustek Computer, the world’s largest producer of motherboards, this week released new BIOS versions for its contemporary mainboards that add support for the new central processing units. As expected, …
Read More »Benchmark results show notable architectural advantages of ‘Skylake’ processors
Intel Corp.’s code-named “Skylake” processors may be significantly faster than existing chips at the same clock-rate thanks to architectural improvements, according to performance benchmarks of alleged engineering sample of the forthcoming CPU. If Intel manages to maintain current clock-rates with commercial “Skylake” chips, the latter could be significantly faster than …
Read More »Intel: ‘Skylake’ processors will be fantastic for tablets, PCs, servers
While Intel Corp. is going to release its code-named “Skylake” processors a little later than expected, the company keeps the plan to introduce its new micro-architecture for virtually all segments of the market continuum this year. Intel will roll-out “Skylake” central processing units for tablets, 2-in-1s, personal computers and servers …
Read More »AMD: We will actively promote ‘Zen’ processors for server market
Advanced Micro Devices now commands only about 2 or 3 per cent of the server market because of various reasons and the company is not going to regain its positions with the current Opteron offerings. Nonetheless, the chip designer seems to pin a lot of hopes on its “Zen” micro-architecture …
Read More »Intel ‘Skylake’ processors for PCs will not support AVX-512 instructions
Intel Corp.’s forthcoming central processing units code-named “Skylake” for personal computers will not support any AVX-512 instructions, according to a media report. Only Xeon processors for servers and, possibly, workstations will support 512-bit instructions. Support of 512-bit SIMD instructions – known as AVX3 – was expected to be a key …
Read More »Intel to reclassify Atom processors to better reflect their positioning
Intel Corp. not only plans to unveil its new Atom processors code-named “Braswell” later this year, but also to introduce a new classification for its chips aimed at ultra-portable devices. The new naming scheme will help the world’s largest chipmaker to better position its Atom processors and will likely help …
Read More »Asrock shows off LGA1151 mainboard for Intel ‘Skylake’ processors
At the Embedded World 2015 trade-show this week Asrock demonstrated its first mainboard for LGA1151 central processing units code-named Skylake. DFI, a well-known maker of mainboards that no longer produces products for consumers, is also showcasing its embedded/industrial LGA1151 roadmap at the show. Although makers of desktop mainboards are not …
Read More »AMD’s ‘Zen’ could sport Intel’s ‘Skylake’ features, new 512-bit FPU – rumours
Although microprocessors based on AMD’s next-generation high-performance micro-architecture code-named “Zen” are more than a year away, some details regarding the forthcoming chips and “Zen” in general are beginning to surface. The most recent rumours about the new architecture add some technical details and point to release schedule of the new …
Read More »ARM Cortex-A57 and Intel Silvermont – most efficient mobile cores, says study
At present there are about half of a dozen different general-purpose processing cores for various low-power system-on-chip solutions. There are high-performance, low-power, big and small cores. But when all of these metrics are taken into account, ARM and Intel have the edge over their rivals. Massive popularization of mobile and …
Read More »Intel could delay ‘Skylake-S’ processors to October – document
Intel Corp. has set a very broad product introduction window for its code-named “Skylake-S” microprocessors that it allows the chipmaker to release its new microprocessors as late as in October, which means rather limited availability of such desktop chips this calendar year. An excerpt presumably from an Intel’s document for …
Read More »Samsung kicks off production of 14nm Exynos system-on-chips
Samsung Electronics has announced that it had begun mass production of a new Exynos 7 system-on-chip for mobile and multimedia devices using 14nm FinFET process technology. The news Exynos 7 Octa processor will likely power the company’s upcoming mobile devices, including flagship smartphones. Samsung started to mass produce chips using …
Read More »Intel to unveil Skylake processors for desktops in August – report
As reported, Intel Corp. will delay its code-named “Skylake” microprocessors for desktops and the new chips will not hit the market in mid-2015, as planned. According to a new media report, the “Skylake-S” chips will hit the market only in August. DigiTimes reports that Intel intends to release its new …
Read More »Intel reaffirms plans to release Core M ‘Skylake’ chips this year
Intel Corp. reiterated plans to release a new generation of Core M microprocessors based on the code-named “Skylake” micro-architecture this year. The new chips will have improved performance and lower power consumption than existing Core M central processing units, which should enable more competitive designs. “As we move into the …
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