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Silicon Valley Nation: The 64-bit question on ARM, AMD
Brian Fuller
10/25/2012 3:55 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO--Almost surely Simon Segars will take the ARM TechCon
stage Tuesday (Oct. 30) and open the ARM kimono wider on the
company's 64-bit architecture and server strategy. After all, it's
been a year since the company first described its 64-bit
push at a high level.
And in the water-torture world of semiconductor technology announcements, nothing ever comes all at once.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
"I've heard that [64-bit] rumor," Segars, executive vice president and general manager for ARM's Processor and Physical IP Divisions, said in an interview this week. Over the phone, you could sense a wry grin, even as he refused to elaborate.
The program's keynote blurb teases, "This presentation will review the latest advancements in processor and process design and provide insight into what the future holds, including some exciting new achievements in CPU design and some unique perspectives from ARM partners."
Almost certainly we'll get to hear more tidbits on 64-bit work happening with Calxeda, AMCC and Cavium.
But what about AMD? Will Segars emerge on stage "ARM in arm" with AMD CEO Rory Read or AMD CTO Mark Papermaster? Last week, Read announced a 15-percent workforce reduction at AMD and sketched out a strategy of reusing cores and using third-party IP providers to push aggressively and cost-effectively into the SoC space.
Taking nothing away from Calxeda and Cavium and AMCC, ARM and AMD make logical and spooning bedfellows in the server segment. Each needs the other to exploit server design trends. AMD needs the technology; ARM needs the channel. AMD would love the low-power play in servers; ARM needs to expand into a deep, non-mobile market in the coming years, and 64-bit means more now in computing design than it does in mobile design, where ARM acknowledges it won't take hold for a decade.
Over time, ARM has danced closer and closer with AMD. The two tied up on an ARM license around the TrustZone technology, and both are intimately involved in the AMD-spawned Heteregenous Systems Architecture (HSA) Foundation, which seeks to make it easier for software developers to take multiprocessing advantage of modern complex processors.
I asked Segars about AMD, and his answers were surprising in that he rejected nothing out of hand.
On using third-party-IP providers, specifically ARM: "Anyone who wants to diversify and improve and engineering efficiency and reduce design time looks to reuse," Segars said. "That's what Rory is describing and that's the way any modern company does it."
On announcing a tighter partnership with AMD: "There's a number of things we're talked publicly about with AMD. We're working with them on HSA. We're a partner there."
Cagey, for sure, but it suggests something's possible.
We may find out a little bit more next week.
Related stories:
--Core demand driving ARM revenue
--Calxeda roadmap leads to 64-bit CPU in 2014
--ARM signs 64-bit deal with Cavium
--AMD, ARM, Imagination, TI, MediaTek form HSA group
And in the water-torture world of semiconductor technology announcements, nothing ever comes all at once.
[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]
"I've heard that [64-bit] rumor," Segars, executive vice president and general manager for ARM's Processor and Physical IP Divisions, said in an interview this week. Over the phone, you could sense a wry grin, even as he refused to elaborate.
The program's keynote blurb teases, "This presentation will review the latest advancements in processor and process design and provide insight into what the future holds, including some exciting new achievements in CPU design and some unique perspectives from ARM partners."
Almost certainly we'll get to hear more tidbits on 64-bit work happening with Calxeda, AMCC and Cavium.
But what about AMD? Will Segars emerge on stage "ARM in arm" with AMD CEO Rory Read or AMD CTO Mark Papermaster? Last week, Read announced a 15-percent workforce reduction at AMD and sketched out a strategy of reusing cores and using third-party IP providers to push aggressively and cost-effectively into the SoC space.
Taking nothing away from Calxeda and Cavium and AMCC, ARM and AMD make logical and spooning bedfellows in the server segment. Each needs the other to exploit server design trends. AMD needs the technology; ARM needs the channel. AMD would love the low-power play in servers; ARM needs to expand into a deep, non-mobile market in the coming years, and 64-bit means more now in computing design than it does in mobile design, where ARM acknowledges it won't take hold for a decade.
Over time, ARM has danced closer and closer with AMD. The two tied up on an ARM license around the TrustZone technology, and both are intimately involved in the AMD-spawned Heteregenous Systems Architecture (HSA) Foundation, which seeks to make it easier for software developers to take multiprocessing advantage of modern complex processors.
I asked Segars about AMD, and his answers were surprising in that he rejected nothing out of hand.
On using third-party-IP providers, specifically ARM: "Anyone who wants to diversify and improve and engineering efficiency and reduce design time looks to reuse," Segars said. "That's what Rory is describing and that's the way any modern company does it."
On announcing a tighter partnership with AMD: "There's a number of things we're talked publicly about with AMD. We're working with them on HSA. We're a partner there."
Cagey, for sure, but it suggests something's possible.
We may find out a little bit more next week.
Related stories:
--Core demand driving ARM revenue
--Calxeda roadmap leads to 64-bit CPU in 2014
--ARM signs 64-bit deal with Cavium
--AMD, ARM, Imagination, TI, MediaTek form HSA group
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