Tag: chips

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Mobile Syrup

Arm reportedly developing its own prototype chip

Arm, the company behind ARM chip designs used by several tech companies, including Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek and more, is making its own chip.

The details come from a Financial Times report, which says Arm tasked its new ‘solutions engineering’ team with producing a chip to show off the capabilities of Arm’s designs. The team is headed by former Qualcomm executive and Snapdragon designer Kevork Kechichian. Work started about six months ago, and the Times reports that several industry executives told it that the design is “more advanced” than any other semiconductor produced in the past.

But before you get too excited, it’s worth noting that Arm reportedly doesn’t plan to sell or license the design. Given the company’s business model of licencing its designs to other companies, it makes sense that Arm doesn’t plan to sell its own chip.

Instead, it seems the company wants to show off what its designs can do, allowing it to break into other markets. Arm recently warned investors that it has a “significant concentration” risk — in 2022, 86 percent of Arm’s revenues came from just 20 customers. Losing a small number of customers could have a significant impact.

One clear market where Arm could break in would be PCs. Apple already uses ARM designs in Mac devices, but outside of a small number of Qualcomm-powered Windows PCs and Chromebooks, Intel and AMD still largely dominate. If Arm can prove its chips can compete (and if Microsoft can get its act together with Windows on ARM), we might see more ARM-powered PCs in the future.

Beyond that, the chip efforts could benefit consumers in other ways. The solutions engineering team is reportedly working on ways to improve performance and security in ARM chip designs. These improvements could eventually make their way into future devices.

Source: The Financial Times Via: Engadget

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Mobile Syrup

Apple could replace Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular modem with in-house chips in 2025

Apple has long been working to replace components in its devices with its own chips, most notably aiming to replace the Qualcomm 5G modem with its own modem. According to new details published by Bloomberg‘s reliable Mark Gurman, Apple could drop a key Broadcom component in 2025, while its modem chip could be ready for late 2024 or early 2025.

Gurman cites people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. The Broadcom component in question handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on Apple devices. Apple has started developing its in-house replacement and aims to use it in devices in 2025. Moreover, Apple is reportedly working on a follow-up chip that would combine Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular modem capabilities into a single component.

Apple is Broadcom’s largest customer and accounted for roughly 20 percent of the company’s revenue in the last fiscal year, Gurman reported.

Meanwhile, Apple’s work on a cellular modem has been moving along slowly. Rumours have swirled for years about Apple’s plan to replace Qualcomm chips in the iPhone with an in-house modem chip, and the company supposedly planned to make the transition this year. However, Apple reportedly delayed the switch after encountering issues with overheating, battery life, and more.

Gurman reports that Qualcomm received 22 percent of its annual sales from Apple.

If these details are accurate, it sounds like the 2025 iPhone could offer some significant changes in the wireless connectivity department. However, given Apple’s troubles with the in-house modem chip so far, it’s possible that other delays could push back the company’s plans. It also remains to be seen what, if any, benefit Apple’s in-house chips would bring. If Apple fails to make its chips at least as good as the components from Broadcom and Qualcomm, it could make the iPhone less compelling compared to other phones.

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm aims to take on Apple’s M-series chips with next-gen chips in 2023

At its investor day event this week, Qualcomm shared plans to release new ARM-based systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) that would power Windows PCs and go head-to-head with Apple’s M-series chips.

It’s a fairly bold claim, especially given the current state of Windows on ARM and the PC industry, which still largely relies on x86 chips from Intel and AMD for intensive workloads. ARM chips for Windows can work well for light applications or situations where battery life is important (like laptops). Apple’s M-series chips, however, can handle intensive workloads and are frankly impressive, especially when using software properly optimized for the chips.

All this is to say that if Qualcomm wants Apple-level chips by 2023, as it indicated at the investor day event, it’s got a lot of work ahead of it. However, a recent acquisition will help

Qualcomm revealed during the event that Nuvia would design its new chip. Nuvia, as a reminder, was a company founded in 2019 by a trio of former Apple employees who had previously worked on the company’s A-series chips for iPhones and iPads. Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in early 2021 and Qualcomm’s CEO previously said the company could beat Apple’s chips with Nuvia.

Aside from offering competition to Apple’s M-series chips, Qualcomm also said that it aimed to have its new chips lead the field in “sustained performance and battery life.” Alongside this, Qualcomm plans to scale up its Adreno GPUs to offer desktop-class gaming performance.

These are bold ambitions, but if Qualcomm can make it happen, these chips might help shift the PC industry in a big way. Even if Qualcomm’s 2023 chips don’t match up to Apple’s 2023 M-series offering, if Nuvia helps Qualcomm’s PC SoCs leap ahead in performance, it could shake up Intel’s and AMD’s grip on the CPU market, particularly in mobile computing like laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Qualcomm aims to take on Apple’s M-series chips with next-gen chips in 2023

At its investor day event this week, Qualcomm shared plans to release new ARM-based systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) that would power Windows PCs and go head-to-head with Apple’s M-series chips.

It’s a fairly bold claim, especially given the current state of Windows on ARM and the PC industry, which still largely relies on x86 chips from Intel and AMD for intensive workloads. ARM chips for Windows can work well for light applications or situations where battery life is important (like laptops). Apple’s M-series chips, however, can handle intensive workloads and are frankly impressive, especially when using software properly optimized for the chips.

All this is to say that if Qualcomm wants Apple-level chips by 2023, as it indicated at the investor day event, it’s got a lot of work ahead of it. However, a recent acquisition will help

Qualcomm revealed during the event that Nuvia would design its new chip. Nuvia, as a reminder, was a company founded in 2019 by a trio of former Apple employees who had previously worked on the company’s A-series chips for iPhones and iPads. Qualcomm acquired Nuvia in early 2021 and Qualcomm’s CEO previously said the company could beat Apple’s chips with Nuvia.

Aside from offering competition to Apple’s M-series chips, Qualcomm also said that it aimed to have its new chips lead the field in “sustained performance and battery life.” Alongside this, Qualcomm plans to scale up its Adreno GPUs to offer desktop-class gaming performance.

These are bold ambitions, but if Qualcomm can make it happen, these chips might help shift the PC industry in a big way. Even if Qualcomm’s 2023 chips don’t match up to Apple’s 2023 M-series offering, if Nuvia helps Qualcomm’s PC SoCs leap ahead in performance, it could shake up Intel’s and AMD’s grip on the CPU market, particularly in mobile computing like laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Intel CEO wants to win Apple back by making a ‘better chip than they can’

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is hoping to win back Apple’s business.

In an interview with Ina Fried, Axios’ chief technology correspondent, on Axios on HBO, Gelsinger discussed his ‘plan’ for getting Apple back. You can basically sum up the plan as ‘make better chips than Apple.’

Watch the clip in the video embedded below, or check out the transcription for Gelsinger’s full answer:

“Fried: Recently Apple said they’re moving from Intel chips on the Mac to homegrown processors. Have you given up on the idea of the Mac running on Intel chips?

Gelsinger: I never give up on the idea of anything not running on Intel chips. And, you know, hey, you know, our stumbles, you know, Apple decided they could do a better chip themselves than we could. And, you know, they did a pretty good job. So what I have to do is create a better chip than they can do themselves. I would hope to win back this piece of their business, as well as many other pieces of business, over time. And in the meantime, I got to make sure that our products are better than theirs, that my ecosystem is more open and vibrant than theirs, and we create more compelling reason for developers and users to land on Intel-based products. So, I’m going to fight hard to win Tim’s business in this area.”

For some added context, Apple began to transition its computers away from Intel’s chips in June 2020. In place of Intel chips, Apple started developing and using its own processors based on ARM designs, similar to what’s used in smartphones and tablets (including Apple’s iPhone and iPad). The first such chip, dubbed the ‘M1,’ has appeared in MacBooks, iMacs, Mac minis and the iPad Pro line. Further, the company is expected to unveil new computers at an event on October 18th featuring a new version of the chip, possibly called ‘M1X’ or ‘M2.’

The thing is, making a better chip is easier said than done — and even if Intel manages to do it, I’m not sure that’ll be enough to win back Apple. Aside from the performance and battery life benefits of the switch to its own ARM-based silicon, Apple is also able to more tightly control its hardware and software stack by using its own chips. I don’t see Apple giving that up just because Intel’s chips manage to pull ahead in performance.

Plus, Intel has been pumping out some pretty terrible, desperate-feeling ads that try to dunk on Apple by touting the “benefits” of Intel chips — benefits that often have little to do with Intel’s chips.

The one upside to Gelsinger’s comment is that hopefully in Intel’s effort to win Apple back, it creates some truly excellent products for Windows users. Intel’s started to lag behind the competition and with AMD’s CPU division firing on all cylinders, Intel’s going to have to step up its game to keep its CPU crown.

Image credit: Intel

Source: Axios (YouTube) Via: MacRumors

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Mobile Syrup

Samsung wants to copy-paste the human brain onto memory chips

Samsung has developed a new way of making computer memory chips by copy-pasting the structure of the human brain onto an electronic circuit.

This “copy-and-paste approach” maps out and measures the complicated network of interconnected synapses in our brains, and then replicates that neural map onto a “3D network of solid-state memory.”

That memory could range from “off-the-shelf flash storage” like SSD to “resistive RAM” (RRAM), according to a press release from the Korean company.

Rather than just drawing inspiration from a specific feature or function of the human brain, this new design method is neat because it “returns neuromorphic electronics to its original goal of reverse engineering the brain” as a whole, according to a scientific paper published in Nature Electronics.

However, as Engadget points out, even a huge multinational manufacturer like Samsung is still a ways away from developing a neuromorphic chip with the 100 trillion memory units required to accurately mimic the human brain’s 100 billion or so neurons.

Despite global shortages, Samsung’s chip production continues on.

The Seoul-based company is the rumoured producer of the Tensor chipset for Google’s upcoming Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro smartphones, and is reportedly working on a new self-driving chipset for Tesla.

Source: Engadget

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Potato chips at top of list for weight gain

Potato chips could be the worst food associated with weight gain, according to a recent joint study by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

The study, published online today (June 23) in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that nearly half of the average weight gain over a four year period can be attributed to eating more potato chips over time.

Other foods near the top of the list included potatoes, sugar-sweetened beverages, red meat, and processed meats.

As to be expected, foods most associated with weight loss included yogurt, nuts, fruits, whole grains, and vegetables.

The analysis reviewed data from more than 120,000 men and women, with an average weight gain of 3.35 lb during each four year period, adding up to 16.8 lb over 20 years.

Researchers claim that there is no magic formula for weight loss. A single ingredient cannot fix everything, but calories do make a difference, and healthy eating combined with regular exercise is the best guarantee of weight loss.

It was noted that other lifestyle habits played a role in long-term weight gain, including daily alcohol consumption, having recently quit smoking, and television watching.