APU

Intel Corp. maintained its position of the top supplier of application processors (APs) for non-Apple tablets in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Thanks to the fact that Intel’s roadmap includes various low-cost chips for mobile devices as well as solutions from Rockchip and …

Although Intel Corp. did not plan to offer central processing units featuring “Skylake” microarchitecture for overclockers along with the first wave of such chips, the company has changed its plans and will release unlocked versions of its “Skylake” CPUs in the third quarter of 2015. As reported last week, Intel …

Intel Corp.’s code-named “Broadwell” central processing units have already reduced power consumption of high-performance mobile processors to unprecedented levels. In the coming months the company's 14nm process technology and the “Broadwell” micro-architecture will apply their magic to chips aimed at overclockers and enthusiasts. Historically, Intel’s advanced microprocessors with overclocking capabilities …

Advanced Micro Devices is expected to introduce new versions of code-named “Kaveri” accelerated processing units (APUs) with a bit higher performance in the first half of the year. In fact, the company is already shipping samples of its “Kaveri Refresh” products also known as “Godovari” to clients, which is why …

At present Advanced Micro Devices, just like Intel Corp., has two desktop platforms: socket FM2+ for mainstream accelerated processing units and socket AM3+ for high-end FX central processing units. When AMD introduces its new chips in 2016, the company will unify the two platforms, a media report claims. AMD’s forthcoming …

Although Advanced Micro Devices does not have plans to bring the code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing units to the market of traditional desktop computers, it is expected that a similar chip will actually make it into desktops. Unfortunately, this will happen only next year and it is unlikely that it will …

Just a week ago Intel Corp. said that it would not postpone introduction of its code-named “Skylake” microprocessors in a bid to sell-off the remaining inventory of current-generation chips. However, a source with knowledge of Intel’s plans revealed on Friday that the world’s largest chipmaker will delay commercial launch of its …

Advanced Micro Devices said this week that in the light of changing market environment and dropping revenues it will reprioritize its research and development (R&D) investments. The company will lower spending on creation of computing and graphics (CG) products and will boost funding of enterprise, embedded and semi-custom (EESC) projects. …

Even though Advanced Micro Devices and a number of other chip designers expect ARM architecture to gain a significant part of the server market in the coming years, even AMD itself admits that the good-old x86 will remain the architecture of choice for the vast majority of servers in the …

Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday confirmed for the first time that it is actively designing several chips that will be made using 14nm FinFET process technology. The announcement from AMD indicates that the company will manufacture its new chips either at GlobalFoundries or Samsung Electronics, not at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing …

Advanced Micro Devices said on Tuesday that it will release new products that will help it to regain share on the markets of central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) starting in the second quarter 2015 and going into the second half of the year. The comments from …

Advanced Micro Devices said on Tuesday that it pins a lot of hopes on its code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing units after posting a major decline in sales of microprocessors and graphics adapters for personal computers. According to AMD, the “Carrizo” APUs will finally help it to boost PC chip market …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has delayed volume production of chips using 16nm FinFET manufacturing technologies by several quarters. As a result, it now has to reconsider plans regarding production of semiconductors using 10nm FinFET fabrication process. Previously it was expected that the company will produce 10nm chips in late 2016, …

Intel shipped 46 million application processors for tablets last year and became one of the largest suppliers of this kind of system-on-chips in the world. Although the company clearly exceeded its original tablet SoC sales goal in 2014, Intel set a rather cautious target for this year. “We set a …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has confirmed that it is developing yet another version of its 16nm FinFET fabrication process. The new manufacturing technology will be used to make chips for ultra-low-power as well as high-performance applications. “We are also working on 16nm ULP technology development,” said Mark Liu, co-CEO of …

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has clarified the timeframe when it intends to start mass production of chips using 16nm FinFET fabrication process. The world’s largest contract maker of semiconductors once again will delay 16nm FF volume production by a month or two to the third quarter of 2015. Back in …

The latest mobile application processors from MediaTek already offer performance comparable to that of mobile system-on-chips from companies like Qualcomm. Apparently, the company is working on two new SoCs that promise to offer truly unbeatable performance. Unfortunately, it is completely unclear whether the new APs will be used for mobile …

Confirmation just in on that third AMD exit, as the corporate web site gets updated to show the future line-up. KitGuru continues to be confused at the number and level of changes. Regardless of the reasons why any of these execs left AMD today, one thing is for certain – …

Quite an amazing day over at AMD HQ. News in that a statutory 8K filing has revealed that the company has just lost its heads of marketing and strategy. What is going on in Texas we wonder? From time to time a large organisation will see senior personnel come and …

Advanced Micro Devices has demonstrated three laptops based on the code-named “Carrizo” accelerated processing units (APUs) at the Consumer Electronics Show 2015. The demonstrations prove that AMD already has working “Carrizo” silicon at hands; however, it is still unclear when exactly the company plans to initiate commercial shipments of the new …

Intel Corp. said it had begun to ship a new breed of system-on-chips for tablets. The new application processors promise to boost performance and cut-down power consumption of Intel’s chips for slates thanks to a new x86 micro-architecture, a new graphics processing unit as well as 14nm fabrication process. The …

Intel's announced it's new SoC (system-on-chip) for wearable devices today at CES. Scheduled for release in the second half of 2015 this tiny all in one system will be able to fit just about anywhere, with it being around the same size as your thumbnail. Intel have also revealed plans with several …

Although Nvidia Corp. decided not to use its custom ARMv8-compatible 64-bit “Denver” core inside its Tegra X1 system-on-chip, the company claims that it can use it inside other application processors. What is unclear is when and inside which application processors. “The reason we did not use Denver on Tegra X1 …

Nvidia Corp. on Monday introduced its latest addition to the Tegra family of system-on-chips for mobile devices, the Tegra X1. The new application processor features the latest ARMv8 64-bit cores, Maxwell architecture graphics, ultra-high-definition video support as well as a massive amount of camera throughput. The all-new Nvidia Tegra X1 …

A technology enthusiast has conducted the first benchmarks of Intel Core i7-5500U “Broadwell” processor’s integrated graphics engine and compared it to that of Intel Core i7-4510U “Haswell” processor. While the results are promising, they do not demonstrate any radical performance boosts. Intel Corp. has been gradually improving performance and capabilities …

GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract manufacturer of chips, late on Tuesday denied existence of problems with the ramp up of production using 14nm fabrication process. According to the foundry, it specifically stockpiles manufacturing equipment at a warehouse so that to install it once the fab 8 facility becomes compatible …

Although GlobalFoundries has licensed 14nm FinFET manufacturing technology from Samsung Electronics back in May, 2014, it looks like the company may have to delay mass production using the fabrication process. According to a media report, the company has stopped installation of equipment required to make chips using 14nm FinFET technology. …

It is a well-known fact that owners of large datacenters, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Corp. and other, have very diverse requirements for servers and microprocessors inside their servers. In the recent years both Intel Corp. and AMD offered custom central processing units to large clients in order to …

While non-standard fabrication processes are sometimes challenging and make it harder to re-use intellectual property across different product lineups, they are just what the doctor ordered when one needs to achieve certain goals. According to GlobalFoundries, the No. 2 contract maker of chips, many customized process technologies are gaining importance …

GlobalFoundries, the world’s second largest contract maker of semiconductors, plans to start volume production of chips using 14nm fabrication process in the first half of 2015, a little later than Samsung Electronics, but, possibly, earlier than Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. The company does not reveal who will be the first …