Apple to Continue to Supply PA Semi's Chips

[MacRumors]

TheRegsiter.co.uk reports that Apple will continue to provide PA Semi's low-power PowerPC chip to existing customers, despite the acquisition:

PA Semi's staff has started notifying a limited set of customers that the company's existing dual-core processor will enjoy long-term support. Apple will employ a number of old PA Semi staffers just for this task, which is good news for folks making missiles, mine-sweeping gear and storage boxes.

Apple acquired PA Semi in April, but had no interest in its existing product line. PA Semi had originally told customers that they would be unable to guarantee a supply of their chips in the future. PA Semi's PWRficient processor had reportedly seen quick adoption in a number of Department of Defense projects.

Article Link

[Chaszmyr]

I'm sure those customers are probably happy about this news, but since Apple is unlikely to devote many resources to improving those chips, it really just seems like it ensures that those customers will be using outdated technology for the foreseeable future.

All the same, hopefully it won't cost much for Apple to keep those chips around, and it will just serve as a steady stream of revenue to help recoup the money spent on acquiring the company.

[w00143881]

Department of Defense?!?!

iPhone 3.0's newest feature...
Automatically sends out an Electromagnetic Pulse that only affects PCs and renders them useless

Cmon Jobs, Chill...

[edesignuk]

We're going to end up with warmongering MBA's, it'll be like Small Soldiers, with laptops

[porky]

now we know what the new product at WWDC will be! The iMissile!

[MikeELL]

Originally Posted by edesignuk

We're going to end up with warmongering MBA's, it'll be like Small Soldiers, with laptops

Introducing the iGun, iTank, and iMissile. Each comes in a lovable range of colours, with FREE laser engraving. Each is built to the high standards we've come to expect of Apple. Pick up the iGun and BAM! It just works. The iTank is a new low profile model that sits just 3 feet off the ground: that's THIN! We think once you get a chance to play with it you'll just love it.

The iMissile is of course the smaller cousin of the iNuke. For when you need a little gunboat diplomacy, right here, right now. With a user interface so intuitive that even a five year-old can use it, it's simply the fastest, most elegant way of inciting racial hatred.

[kristoffer4]

i really don't like this. I had hoped Apple was better than this...

[xUKHCx]

Originally Posted by kristoffer4

i really don't like this. I had hoped Apple was better than this...

What Apple are essentially going out of their way, with no obligation, to supply chips so that the current customers aren't left high and dry. It is a good thing for them to do.

I fail to see how this is a bad thing, unless of course your only goal is profit and even then it is not exactly a great argument as this may lead to more customers in the future.

[aLoC]

If I recall, one of the reasons Apple stopped using the PowerPC platform was the lack of lower power variants. And now here they are selling one themselves. It's a funny old world.

[jnc]

Originally Posted by aLoC

If I recall, one of the reasons Apple stopped using the PowerPC platform was the lack of lower power variants. And now here they are selling one themselves. It's a funny old world.

I'm supposing it costs less and is a smaller disruption in this instance to keep things as is, considering the lower throughput from a smaller customer base

[BenRoethig]

Originally Posted by aLoC

If I recall, one of the reasons Apple stopped using the PowerPC platform was the lack of lower power variants. And now here they are selling one themselves. It's a funny old world.

A very modern system on chip one too.

[CWallace]

The Department of Defense is not going to want new variants of those chips, so they could care less if Apple doesn't advance their spec with any great frequency.

And I expect the DoD could have killed this deal if Apple had either not agreed to continue to produce the chips or license the technology to another foundry to build them.

So Apple generates revenue from the deal (as Chaszmyr noted), the DoD gets their chips, and everyone is happy.

[khunsanook]

Although a lot of defense technology is associated with certain warmongering administrations, let's not forget that the article mentions "mine-sweeping gear". I'm not exactly sure which mine sweeping gear might use PA Semi chips, but if you've ever worked in or traveled to a post-war, heavily mined country like Cambodia or Laos you quickly see what a great thing advances in "defense technology" can be.

Perhaps an example...

[FJ218700]

iTank,

coming Q1 '09

[ScottFitz]

I bet the price of those chips just went up. $200 hammer anyone?

[Matthew Yohe]

Originally Posted by xUKHCx

What Apple are essentially going out of their way, with no obligation, to supply chips so that the current customers aren't left high and dry. It is a good thing for them to do.

I fail to see how this is a bad thing, unless of course your only goal is profit and even then it is not exactly a great argument as this may lead to more customers in the future.

I think kristoffer4 is a pacifist.

[cloudnine]

Sweet. Apple helps make missiles now.

Badass.

[macerroneous]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I would prefer we all stay apolitical. Nevertheless, shouldn't we say "apple states it has no interest in the chips," rather than "apple has no interest in the chips"? I think they're planning to power an iPhone OS device with one of these chips someday.

[twoodcc]

this is very good, considering the military is one of their customers

[nostaws]

i really don't like this. I had hoped Apple was better than this...

Somebody has to make missiles, might as well be Apple. While I wish we weren't at war, and terrorists wouldn't try to kill us... we are at war, and they are trying to kill us.

I like my MacBookPro, it works like a dream. I hope the missiles made my DoD, with Apple's chips work just as well. The better missile: less the collateral damage, and the need to put fewer soldiers in harms way.

[MacFly123]

To be announced at WWDC 2008:

Steve Jobs will be retiring, but his true identity is now TONY STARK haha Lets see some of those physically interactive holograms from Iron Man now Apple

[lord patton]

I know it's no use arguing with a pacifist, but considering that the U.S. military is civilian-controlled, and serves a constitutional republic with universal suffrage, it might be a bit naive to issue a wholesale condemnation of anyone who does business with them.

The use of a military is a political question. The issue of having a military, however, is no question at all.

[plumpan]

Originally Posted by MacFly123

To be announced at WWDC 2008:

Steve Jobs will be retiring, but his true identity is now TONY STARK haha Lets see some of those physically interactive holograms from Iron Man now Apple

tony stark was using a mac pro and dual cinema display set up for his main workstation, if anyone caught that ....

[jmadlena]

Originally Posted by plumpan

tony stark was using a mac pro and dual cinema display set up for his main workstation, if anyone caught that ....

But he also had Dells in his lab, too. I thought it was strange to mix the beauty of Apple Cinema Displays and run-of the mill Dells.

It's like buying an HDTV and then only watching standard definition.

Actually, that's not like this at all. Nevermind...

[MacFly123]

Originally Posted by plumpan

tony stark was using a mac pro and dual cinema display set up for his main workstation, if anyone caught that ....

Originally Posted by jmadlena

But he also had Dells in his lab, too. I thought it was strange to mix the beauty of Apple Cinema Displays and run-of the mill Dells.

It's like buying an HDTV and then only watching standard definition.

Actually, that's not like this at all. Nevermind...

Of course we noticed lol. Yes I know there were some Dells spuriously placed here and there but any movie with any style and cinematography uses Apple products as their computer props. It has been that way for quite some time.