Intel announced a new license with ARM, that may position it to rapidly manufacture nano-sized chips for mobile use. While AMD has had access to ARM technology for a handful of years, it has little room to compete in the mobile space. (via Intel)
Intel dominates the CPU space, but when it comes to mobile, the processor manufacturer falls short. The tech giant has some tricks up its sleeves, however, as it just announced a new license with ARM Holdings that will allow it to use ARM designs in its next model of nano-sized chips, perfect for mobile.
Intel announced the new license at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, California. It said it plans to use its 10-nanometer production lines for the advent of new and improved chips for use in smartphones developed by companies like Qualcomm Inc. and Apple Inc.
It’s a move to remain competitive in an increasingly shifting space. While Intel remains competitive for CPU chips, its other services have not been considerably successful. Intel’s foundry business, for example, has seen few orders, although the new ARM license could change that. If the space were repurposed for ARM production, Intel’s entry into mobile chip development could be magnitudinous. But Intel will have to remain competitive with long-time rival AMD.
AMD is the chip of choice for high-performance functions, such as gaming. While Intel’s chips pack a speedy punch, AMD almost always outprices Intel, which has sustained its business for decades. AMD stock price shot up over 50% in the past few months. Proof in the price.
AMD’s Opteron ARM A-Series Processors have been around for years. The Opteron A1100 is suited for the enterprise, with SOC delivery, scalable performance, optimized TCO, and superior energy efficiency. The ARM Cortex-A57 chips also deliver high speed, connectivity, and power with 64-bit processing.
AMD’s ARM division, however, targets software and hardware developers, server infrastructure, and data center processing. As such, although AMD’s products may retail for less, the technology is positioned to support back-end processes, not mobile. As such, Intel may still get to the mobile market first, at the nanoscale needed to support rapid production.
Intel works quickly. As it already has a foundry facility with serious production capacity, it might not be long before we see the next generation of Intel chips in the latest iPhone update. And if prices remain competitive, that might not be such a bad deal.
Have a story tip? Message me at: