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Apple mulls switch away from Intel chips
Dylan McGrath
11/6/2012 12:01 AM EST
When Apple Inc. switched from using IBM processors to Intel chips in its venerable Macintosh computer line almost seven years ago, it was a big deal.
The late Steve Jobs and Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, appeared on stage together at Macworld 2006 to make the surprise announcement—with Jobs' typical flair—that iMacs with Intel's Core Duo processors were available immediately, six months ahead of schedule. Two of Silicon Valley's most famous and successful companies were finally getting together.
But now it appears that that run may be winding down. On Monday (Nov. 5), the Bloomberg news service reported that Apple is exploring ways to replace the Intel processors it uses in Macs with some version of the A5 and A6 SoCs it uses in its iPhones and iPads. The Bloomberg story, which cited unnamed sources "familiar with the company’s research" said Apple engineers have grown confident that the chips it uses for its mobile devices will one day be powerful enough to run desktop and notebook PCs.
Recall that last week Apple showed the door to two senior executives and reshuffled responsibility for several of its divisions. The company seemed to take pains to include in that announcement the cryptic statement that Apple's semiconductor teams—which now report to Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield—"have ambitious plans for the future."
Retooling Apple's ARM-based A6 to power PCs would certainly qualify as ambitious. It would also be consistent with Apple's modus operandi in recent years—moving toward vertical integration and greater control over the chips it uses in its products. It would, of course, require a great deal of work on both the hardware and software sides.Such a move, however, would not occur overnight--it would likely take Apple several years.
For Intel, it is unclear how large of a blow such a move by Apple would be. Apple—with its wild success and iconic products—is a prestigious logo to include on the customer slide in a Powerpoint presentation. But Intel's biggest customers are Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. Apple sold 4.9 million Macs in its most recently concluded quarter; HP shipped 13.6 million PCs in the third quarter, while Dell shipped 9.2 million.
Related stories:
The late Steve Jobs and Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, appeared on stage together at Macworld 2006 to make the surprise announcement—with Jobs' typical flair—that iMacs with Intel's Core Duo processors were available immediately, six months ahead of schedule. Two of Silicon Valley's most famous and successful companies were finally getting together.
But now it appears that that run may be winding down. On Monday (Nov. 5), the Bloomberg news service reported that Apple is exploring ways to replace the Intel processors it uses in Macs with some version of the A5 and A6 SoCs it uses in its iPhones and iPads. The Bloomberg story, which cited unnamed sources "familiar with the company’s research" said Apple engineers have grown confident that the chips it uses for its mobile devices will one day be powerful enough to run desktop and notebook PCs.
Recall that last week Apple showed the door to two senior executives and reshuffled responsibility for several of its divisions. The company seemed to take pains to include in that announcement the cryptic statement that Apple's semiconductor teams—which now report to Senior Vice President Bob Mansfield—"have ambitious plans for the future."Retooling Apple's ARM-based A6 to power PCs would certainly qualify as ambitious. It would also be consistent with Apple's modus operandi in recent years—moving toward vertical integration and greater control over the chips it uses in its products. It would, of course, require a great deal of work on both the hardware and software sides.Such a move, however, would not occur overnight--it would likely take Apple several years.
For Intel, it is unclear how large of a blow such a move by Apple would be. Apple—with its wild success and iconic products—is a prestigious logo to include on the customer slide in a Powerpoint presentation. But Intel's biggest customers are Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. Apple sold 4.9 million Macs in its most recently concluded quarter; HP shipped 13.6 million PCs in the third quarter, while Dell shipped 9.2 million.
Related stories:
- Apple’s share of global tablet market slips
- Apple's suit against Motorola dismissed
- Teardown: Apple iPad Mini
- Android powers 75% of smartphones in Q3
- Apple, Samsung still hogging all handset profits
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rick.merritt
11/6/2012 1:01 AM EST
Ever sense that report from the Apple reorg about their "ambitious" semiconductor plans, I've been wondering what that meant.
This is a reasoned take on it.
I am wondering if Nvidia might have some role in this play, too. Project Denver, where are yooooouuuu?
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danny1024
11/6/2012 1:58 AM EST
I know Nvidia is continuing work on Project Denver as an R&D effort but many of the key technical folks jumped ship for Intel, Apple and Google over a year ago.
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rick.merritt
11/6/2012 12:07 PM EST
Any names you can share?
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danny1024
11/6/2012 3:56 PM EST
In no particular order:
Thomas Kistler
Alexander Klaiber
Rupert Brauch
Tim Kong
Chris Leary
A quick search on LinkedIn for "Binary Translation" (BT) shows something of a mass exodus of such specialists from Nvidia within the last two years. BT was (is?) the essential enabler for "Project Denver"
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help.fulguy
11/6/2012 3:02 AM EST
Hey Dylan, Thanks for leaving the key word: 2017. If you are going to copy an article or refer an article, at least understand the gist of it, before throwing it up all over here. You and Rick make a nice pair. Not fit to be a reporter let alone a Tech one.
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dylan.mcgrath
11/6/2012 9:01 AM EST
@help.fulguy- thanks for the constructive criticism. Very helpful. I am afraid you might have left out a word in the second sentence of your post. Thanks again.
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wsw1982
11/6/2012 3:05 AM EST
LoL, Does it mean till 2017 MacBook gonna become MAC.the netbook?
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pelle
11/6/2012 5:53 AM EST
Im sure the guys at PA is really brilliant and many of them would probably work their ass of to beat intel at their home turf. But not only do they have to design an architecture (ARM based?) that is better than what intel has shown us today, they also need to beat whatever intel has been up to the last few years while loitering ahead of AMDs floundering attempts to catch up. Also whatever they cook up has to beat intels node advantage, no small thing in it self. And they need to do this without stepping on any intel patents. That is a tall order, even with Intrinsitys secret sauce.
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danny1024
11/6/2012 4:15 PM EST
There's a tradeoff; Apple has to pay ARM for the architectural license and possibly per-chip royalties depending on the licensing agreement.
Apple's competition also pays licensing fees (Qualcomm, Samsung,
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danny1024
11/6/2012 4:17 PM EST
Going with Intel enables Apple to retain Intel's very generous volume/courtesy discounts on the silicon while at the same time leveraging Intel's large driver and compiler teams.
This in turn allows Apple to focus on innovating in other areas; OS/Middleware/Applications while at the same time improving margins and/or enabling Apple to price their products more competitively.
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jeffreyrdiamond
11/7/2012 11:29 AM EST
The "architecture" (x86 vs ARM) is irrelevant. x86 is actually a disadvantage, but a minor one, as all Intel chips since the Pentium immediately translate x86 into an ARM like RISC ISA.
What's left is microarchitecture and circuit technology. Of these, Intel currently leads in absolute performance per core, while ARM leads in performance per watt, which translates into throughput performance.
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MikeSmith2011
11/7/2012 3:14 PM EST
The node advantage is expected to reduce going forward if not go away. Smaller technology shrinks (22nm-14nm) are not providing the dramatic reduction in power or increase in frequency anymore. So if the Apple design team can get close to intel performance with better integration of other functions, the management would take that and get a huge improvement in margins.
Remember that Apple is already pretty much vertically integrated already.
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danny1024
11/7/2012 8:09 PM EST
Integration is really the key challenge and it's unclear that Apple can or wants to do that. Intel's recent Digital RF on CMOS Atom SOC ("Rosepoint") is the first of its kind; no one else has demonstrated that level of integration on a modern process tech node.
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resistion
11/8/2012 7:39 AM EST
There's the SoC school and then there's the SiP school. Maybe Apple is still deciding where to enroll...
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moronda
11/6/2012 6:25 AM EST
MIPS got bought. It just hit the wire.
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moronda
11/6/2012 6:30 AM EST
MIPS just got bought by Imagination.
http://www.zdnet.com/chip-designer-mips-acquired-for-60m-patents-sold-for-350m-7000006969/
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bordersboy
11/6/2012 12:35 PM EST
Apple are looking at how they can continue to differentiate their product to keep a wack of profit. If the consumer realises that all a Mac is, is a computer the same as a Sony or Lenovo, they won't pay the premium. The differentiatr is needed to continue to deliver $8bn per quarter that feeds its stock price.......
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vdara
11/6/2012 3:58 PM EST
Qestions:
Aren't 75% of Apple revenue from iPhone/iPad?
Isn't Samsung the biggest competior of Apple in smartphone and tablet?
Isn't Samsung manufacturing and helping design SOCs for Apple?
Who would going to manufacture this ARM processor for iMac? Most likely Samsung.
Then, what would do Apple good?
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danny1024
11/6/2012 4:33 PM EST
Samsung is doing foundry work as well as some design-for-manufacturability and post-silicon validation/verification; Intel, Global Foundries and TSMC can easily do the same.
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vdara
11/6/2012 8:50 PM EST
Any idea for Apple planning to switch from Samsung to TSMC/GF or even Intel?
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danny1024
11/7/2012 1:43 PM EST
Apple's recent hires suggest that a TSMC move (for a portion of Apple's foundry needs) is imminent.
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ewertz2
11/6/2012 4:17 PM EST
" If the consumer realises that all a Mac is, is a computer the same as a Sony or Lenovo, they won't pay the premium."
Which has basically never been the case in the history ~40 year history of Apple.
J.F.C...
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wsw1982
11/7/2012 6:07 AM EST
This news must be originated from bloomberg,they has the reputation :)
http://semiaccurate.com/2012/10/08/bloomberg-wrong-about-intels-woes/
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carolinesmith
11/18/2012 1:31 PM EST
I agree with Eric.Wertz, it never been the case.
http://www.uggcanadamart.com/
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freerunaushop
12/16/2012 5:33 AM EST
Excellent feedback with intriguing matters and very useful resources. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.freerunaushop.com/
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