Intel Foundries Able to Produce ARM-Based Chips Under New Licensing Deal

[MacRumors]

At today's Intel Developer Forum, Intel announced a new licensing deal with ARM, which will see Intel taking advantage of ARM technology in an effort to attract more manufacturing companies to its factories.

Under the terms of the deal, Intel plans to allow third-party semiconductor companies to use its 10-nanometer production lines for manufacturing ARM-based chips for smartphones, expanding the production options available to companies like Apple.

Apple currently produces custom-designed ARM-based chips that are manufactured by companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), but with Intel and ARM's new licensing deal, Apple (and other manufacturers) could potentially use Intel to fabricate its chips.

LG Electronics has already inked a deal with Intel and will use Intel's foundry business to manufacture 10-nanometer chips for future LG devices. It is not clear if Apple will strike a deal with Intel, as rumors suggest Apple already has an agreement in place with TSMC to produce 10-nanometer A11 chips destined for the 2017 iPhone and other 2017 devices, but the possibility exists for future chips.

TSMC is also said to be the sole manufacturer of the A10 chip that will be used in the upcoming iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Article Link: Intel Foundries Able to Produce ARM-Based Chips Under New Licensing Deal

 

[8692574]

Intel (ARM) iPhone....me want!!!

 

[Bonte]

A combo computer Intel core plus ARM would be nice, best of both worlds.

 

[gpat]

This has no implications whatsoever with Intel compatibility. Your iPhone will continue to run exactly the same applications. Get a clue.

 

[Michael Goff]

Intel iPhone....me want!!!

A combo computer Intel core plus ARM would be nice, best of both worlds.

That's not even what the article is about.

 

[8692574]

That's not even what the article is about.

I specified....editing..i knew a smart one would comment without understanding.... it took 2 replies...
YES the article is about intel ARM chip...possibly meaning Intel ARM in an iPhone in the future!

 

[CptSky]

Great move from Intel, knowing they have a hard time taking some market share in the mobile sector with their own chips, at least they'll get a piece of the pie by producing ARM chips...

 

[modemthug]

A combo computer Intel core plus ARM would be nice, best of both worlds.

lol wut?

 

[thisisnotmyname]

Don't get too excited, it will still be ARM instruction set (basically the point) rather than x86. It's nice to get another player designing 10nm ARM chips but this doesn't mean x86; Intel is a chip manufacturer and x86 is an instruction set, the two are not synonymous (no matter how much they have become so in common usage).

 

[Michael Goff]

I specified....editing..i knew a smart one would comment without understanding.... it took 3 replies...

Maybe you should be a little more specific.

Also, Intel making the chips will change very little.

 

[8692574]

Maybe you should be a little more specific.

Also, Intel making the chips will change very little.

Well since we are in a discussion about that ...it was implied............................but you proved me there are people that needs to be told everything.

Last iPhone with 2 different chip showed that there are differences in manufacturing, so YES Intel to me means a better chip it'll change very little..but it will change to each his own i guess, no need to act like i said something irritating!

For the record, i will also tell you that i am very calm
EDIT : also bolded to me, in case it is not clear that it is a personal preference!

 

[Michael Goff]

Well since we are in a discussion about that ...it was implied............................but you proved me there are people that needs to be told everything.

Last iPhone with 2 different chip showed that there are differences in manufacturing, so YES Intel to me means a better chip it'll change very little..but it will change to each his own i guess, no need to act like i said something irritating!

For the record, i will also tell you that i am very calm

You're the guy who decided to not put in all the information and condescend to people who didn't understand your drivel. That's the irritating thing. Not that you don't understand the minute differences between a Samsung A9 and a TSMC one.

 

[2457282]

This is a nice plot twist.

Edit -
To be clear, I speak of the fact that now we have competition between Samsung TSMC and Intel for chip making.

I am not speaking of the other commenters arguing amongst themselves which I do not want to be a part of.

 

[ghostface147]

They have some of the most advanced foundries, so why not?

 

[usersince86]

Good news. Hope it brings good fruit to the Apple world.
[doublepost=1471380222][/doublepost]WOW. Angry much, people?

Calm down.

It's technology, not people. Sheesh...

 

[Codeseven]

Hasn't Intel been a PITA for getting chips out on time as it is? So now they're going to be trying to manufacture ARM chips too?

 

[WhatUp?]

Well, with their long delays in shipping new chips, Intel might as well keep their expensive foundries running producing them for others. The big question for Apple is, should they put their egg in Intel's unreliable basket.

 

[Zirel]

Intel basically won the PC platform in the 90's when they started to dominate not only the CPU business, but the chipset business as well.

When a company like Intel, kills their mass market line (aka Atom/Celeron/Pentium line), and "opens up" to what was called "mobile", and starts accepting contracts for ARM processors, you realize we are way past the turning point.

ATM, it's only Microsoft "defending" the PC platform now... because they failed to make a new operating system designed for Mobile (aka their MS Courier concept).
[doublepost=1471381577][/doublepost]

Don't get too excited, it will still be ARM instruction set (basically the point) rather than x86. It's nice to get another player designing 10nm ARM chips but this doesn't mean x86; Intel is a chip manufacturer and x86 is an instruction set, the two are not synonymous (no matter how much they have become so in common usage).

And why should I care for x86?

 

[brendu]

Maybe you should be a little more specific.

Also, Intel making the chips will change very little.

It will increase apple's ability to shut Samsung out of profits from Apple devices.

 

[catportal]

A combo computer Intel core plus ARM would be nice, best of both worlds.

That would be a redundant and terrible computer. x86/64 and aarch64 are completely different ISA's that implement similar end logic.

And why should I care for x86?

Well, for starters, for any sort of performance computing, virtualization, vectored instructions, x86/64 ISA is vastly superior than aarch.

 

[JeffDM]

Intel used to make StrongARM, later rebranded XScale I think. They got it in a deal with DEC. Did that license lapse? Or was it something else?

 

[BulkSlash]

Interesting. Intel have some of the most advanced process techniques in the world, so this could give Apple the opportunity to really boost clock speeds without voltage leakage being a problem at 10nm and lower.

That said, Intel can't get power consumption under control for **** in their x86 line. Sure it means they have by far the fastest CPUs out there but they're hot and power hungry. Which is exactly what you don't want in a thin phone!

 

[Karma*Police]

Great move from Intel, knowing they have a hard time taking some market share in the mobile sector with their own chips, at least they'll get a piece of the pie by producing ARM chips...

You're right, but I'm not sure they had much of a choice. The Mac/PC market is shrinking, their Android tablet experiment collapsed, and in order to stay competitive, Intel needs volume to justify building and maintaining their expensive chip foundries.

I feel like it was either take this route or farm out manufacturing to the likes of TSMC and Samsung.

 

[catportal]

Interesting. Intel have some of the most advanced process techniques in the world, so this could give Apple the opportunity to really boost clock speeds without voltage leakage being a problem at 10nm and lower.

That said, Intel can't get power consumption under control for **** in their x86 line. Sure it means they have by far the fastest CPUs out there but they're hot and power hungry. Which is exactly what you don't want in a thin phone!

This is process technology not Intel architecture. They were able to come to a licensing agreement to produce Arm chips in their foundries. IE a company like apple would send their masks to Intel and get a fresh batch of A1X chips back with 10 nm process which would technically use less power and offer more die space for Apple to add new hardware on the SoC.

 

[Mascots]

This will most certainly drive down the cost of ARM chips and increase the investment of major players (like Apple) into ARM.

But it also means Intel will be further displaced from the mobile market unless they plan on making some interesting moves in the future. In short term, this deal is fantastic, but they may be shooting themselves in the foot.

I don't know how Intel plans to play the long game, and wonder about that more.