SoCs
This week Samsung Electronics and Synopsys announced that Samsung has taped out its first mobile system-on-chip on Samsung Foundry's 3nm gate-all-around (GAA) process technology. The announcement, coming from electronic design automation Synopsys, further notes that Samsung used the Synopsys.ai EDA suite to place-n-route the layout and verify design of the SoC, which in turn enabled higher performance. Samsung's unnamed high-performance mobile SoC relies on 'flagship' general-purpose CPU and GPU architectures as well as various IP blocks from Synopsys. SoC designers used Synopsys.ai EDA software, including the Synopsys DSO.ai to fine-tune design and maximize yields as well as Synopsys Fusion Compiler RTL-to-GDSII solution to achieve higher performance, lower power, and optimize area (PPA). And while the news that Samsung has developed a high-performance SoC using the Synopsys.ai...
NVIDIA Plots Mobile SoC GPU Performance, Surpassing Xbox 360 by 2014
Qualcomm was the first to tell us that it expects to offer console level GPU performance in the not too distant future, generally hinting that its Adreno 3xx GPUs...
51 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/19/2012
Apple's iPad 2,4 also uses 32nm A5 S5L8942 SoC
Through Chipworks, we recently learned that Apple's revised A5 SoC (S5L8942) is built on a 32nm Samsung HKMG process. While its presence in the Apple TV (3rd generation) which...
28 by Brian Klug on 4/11/2012
Apple TV A5 SoC is 32nm, Harvested dual-core A5
The 3rd generation Apple TV ships with what Apple tells us is a single-core A5 SoC. After delayering the chip to the transistor gate layer in the new Apple...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 4/11/2012
The Apple iPad Review (2012)
It has a display resolution that dwarfs most high-end desktop displays. The panel also puts a real emphasis on quality, not just resolution. For a computing device targeted squarely...
234 by Vivek Gowri & Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/28/2012
Apple TV 3 (2012) Short Review - 1080p and better WiFi
The iPad (3) took front row during the recent launch extravaganza, however Apple also refreshed their Apple TV with a new model sporting a single core A5 SoC and...
37 by Brian Klug on 3/21/2012
Apple's A5X Floorplan
Apple's A5X SoC Today has been pretty exciting. Not only did we confirm the die size of Apple's A5X SoC (162.94mm^2) but we also found out that it's still built...
18 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/16/2012
Apple A5X Die Size Measured: 162.94mm^2, Samsung 45nm LP Confirmed
Contrary to what we thought yesterday based on visual estimation of the A5X die, Chipworks has (presumably) measured the actual die itself: 162.94mm^2. While the A5 was big, this...
46 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/16/2012
Apple's A5X Die (and Size?) Revealed
iFixit saved us all a whole lot of trouble and performed a teardown of the new iPad announced last week. The internals were mostly what we expected, down to...
45 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 3/15/2012
TI Brings OMAP 5 to MWC
A month ago we saw weeks old OMAP 5 silicon running at CES. Earlier this week we got a chance to see TI's OMAP 5 reference platform playing back...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/29/2012
The Portland Group Announces OpenCL Compiler for ST-Ericsson ARM-Based NovaThor SoCs
Amidst all the major hardware announcements at MWC2012 there are also some announcements coming out of the software side. The Portland Group (PGI) sent word this afternoon that their...
2 by Ryan Smith on 2/28/2012
Apple iPad 3 Event Scheduled For March 7th In San Francisco
It's not like we weren't expecting it, but Apple's now made it official. The event is scheduled for March 7th at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in...
52 by Saumitra Bhagwat on 2/28/2012
ST-E Will Have FD-SOI Based U8540: 35% Lower Power, Much Higher Frequencies
There's a close relationship between process technology and performance/power consumption, and it's about to get even more important in mobile. We've already seen that with the transition to 40nm...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/28/2012
ST-Ericsson's NovaThor L8540: 28nm Cortex A9 SoC with Integrated LTE
ST-E is currently laying out its strategy for the company going forward, having suffered a tremendous reduction in revenue as the mobile market has changed dramatically over the past...
5 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/28/2012
Intel Continues Its Smartphone March: Lava & ZTE Partnerships Announced
Intel had two more announcements yesterday about its Atom smartphone progress. The first was a partnership with Lava, an Indian mobile handset manufacturer. The Lava Xolo X900, a rebranded...
2 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/28/2012
Intel Goes Higher & Lower End With Atom SoCs: Z2580 & Z2000 Announced at MWC
Intel had a few updates about its Android SoC strategy for us at MWC this week. The first is a spec revision. The Atom Z2460 we talked about in...
25 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/27/2012
Hands On With the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity
Earlier today we published the specs and a first look at ASUS' Transformer Pad Infinity, a 10.1-inch Android 4.0 tablet with a 1920 x 1200 Super IPS+ display. As...
12 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/27/2012
Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon S4 Pro: Krait with Adreno 320
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon S4 Pro, a version of the MSM8960 with an Adreno 320 GPU instead of the Adreno 225 that is found in the initial shipping MSM8960...
14 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/27/2012
Intel Demos Graphics Performance Analyzer 2012 for Android
One of Intel's advantages as it gets into the smartphone market is its extensive software experience, particularly when it comes to performance optimization and analysis. On Monday at GDC...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/26/2012
NVIDIA's Rebrands Tegra 3's vSMP as 4-PLUS-1
ARM Cortex A9 cores are relatively tiny and it's not too difficult to put a handful of them down on an SoC. NVIDIA did just that with its Tegra...
5 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/22/2012
ZTE Mimosa X: First Smartphone Powered by NVIDIA's Icera 450 Modem
In May of last year NVIDIA was on a roll. Hot off the release of the first Tegra 2 based phones, NVIDIA announced the intent to acquire baseband manufacturer...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 2/20/2012
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