Intel to make ARM SOCs

[vcoleiro1]

Looks like some ARM powered devices in the future may have a SOC made by Intel.

Not sure if they have had these licenses in the past, seem to remember such, but it it does now look like they will make them.

https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/16/intel-arm-manufacturing-licensing/

 

[TheOldOne]

I had a PDA with an Intel made ARM chin in the early 2000s. It's not a "new" thing they just tried to make the x86 line fit there for a while.

Edit: I wonder if they'll bring back the XScale name they used for there old ARM SoC or if they'll have a new name.

 

[slaeshjag]

Intel sold off XScale in 2006.

 

[TheOldOne]

They only sold off one of the lines they had under the XScale name but likely sold the name itself too.

 

[Exophase]

At this point it sounds like the best outcome for Intel, ARM, and SoC makers. But not such a good outcome for TSMC, Samsung, and Global Foundries. Let's hope that Intel isn't just doing this temporarily to hurt those foundries.

 

[TrashyMG]

But not such a good outcome for TSMC, Samsung, and Global Foundries.

GlobalFoundries <--- It's actually just one word.

Honestly it prob doesn't matter that much for my new employer. The big money maker they obtained by taking over IBM Microelectronics is SIGE RF technology, typically built and sold to companies that build all in one modules like the cell modem going into the Pyra. Most of the SoC/ASIC offerings done with the former IBM division are typically chips that go into high speed networking switches, routers and cell phone tower base-station networking equipment and such. Also trusted foundry work for the government and such. Outside of what used to be IBM Microelectronics, the big focus is bulk manufacturing for AMD and from what I gathered other overflow work from other FAB manufacturers.

 

[levi]

They only sold off one of the lines they had under the XScale name but likely sold the name itself too.

They inherited the StrongARM schematics as part of a settlement they had that broke up Digital, and renamed it XScale, and started paying ARM to license making ARM compatible chips. Then they stopped, and sold some schematics to Marvell. They probably still have the XScale name because Marvell never used it as far as I know, but I'm not sure it's worth that much anyway, and any old designs they have from '06 will be almost completely irrelevant by now. ARM reference designs have incorporated the main StrongARM design wins a long time ago now - the modified harvard architecture and longer pipeline lengths are bread and butter parts of the reference designs now. Their old designs won't do out-of-order execution, I'd guess, and won't be 64 bit. Given they were mainly selling them as hard disc controllers and network card chips, I'd have thought 64-bit data would be important in those sectors these days.

 

[TheOldOne]

Actually Intel still has the ARM architectural license they acquired for the XScale line but that design is so out of date as to be almost useless today.