[Reg] Broadcom quietly dismantles its 'Vulcan' ARM server chip project

[NTMBK]

Broadcom is shutting down efforts to develop its own server-class 64-bit ARM system-on-chip, multiple sources within the semiconductor industry have told The Register.

It appears the secretive project, codenamed Vulcan, did not survive Broadcom's acquisition by Avago and is gradually being wound down. Engineering resources have been quietly moved to other product areas and staff have left or been let go, we're told. Vulcan's designers have been applying for jobs at rival semiconductor giants, revealing that Broadcom's server-grade processor dream is all but dead, it is claimed.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/07/broadcom_arm_processor_vulcan/

 

[ShintaiDK]

Take a wild guess on why. ARM isn't ready for the datacenter, not now, not anytime soon.

 

[kraatus77]

That's why qualcomm announced their server soc ? lol

 

[dark zero]

Take a wild guess on why. ARM isn't ready for the datacenter, not now, not anytime soon.

Qualcomm show up their datacenter SOC and it will be matter of time that Samsung and Huawei follows them.

Broadcom was a dying company, even Raspberry was evaluating to move up on their next SOC. Now they are sure to move up to other company, maybe Qualcomm.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Qualcomm show up their datacenter SOC and it will be matter of time that Samsung and Huawei follows them.

Broadcom was a dying company, even Raspberry was evaluating to move up on their next SOC. Now they are sure to move up to other company, maybe Qualcomm.

Samsung canned their server SoC efforts. Broadcom is one of the largest and most profitable semiconductor companies in the world. Please back your statements up with facts.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Wonder how many of the engineers that worked on Broadcom's project will wind up at Cavium.

 

[Rifter]

Broadcom has been on the downward slide for a few years now.

 

[dark zero]

Samsung canned their server SoC efforts. Broadcom is one of the largest and most profitable semiconductor companies in the world. Please back your statements up with facts.

Broadcom was bought by Avago, now is Broadcom Limited. And Cypress Semiconductor bought their IOT division. Fact has changed. Broadcom is still relevant, but no longer being the biggest fish on the sea.
http://www.cypress.com/news/cypress...-acquisition-broadcom-s-wireless-iot-business


PS: BTW... Microsoft is running Windows 10 on Qualcomm processors:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcom....google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/

Is matter of time that the server version will go on Qualcomm server processors. Another critical hit for them.

 

[Arachnotronic]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/07/broadcom_arm_processor_vulcan/

Bye bye, Vulcan.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Qualcomm show up their datacenter SOC and it will be matter of time that Samsung and Huawei follows them.

Broadcom was a dying company, even Raspberry was evaluating to move up on their next SOC. Now they are sure to move up to other company, maybe Qualcomm.

How many times haven't we heard that before. Gene-X was also to be a real killer. Then Samsung and Broadcom who gave up. Now Qualcomm will try a bit and then go back to phone SoCs.

 

[Qwertilot]

If enough big, rich, sane companies are all tying the same thing then it probably isn't a terrible idea a priori (no guarantees I suppose!) and one of them is likely to make at least a modest success of it

 

[dark zero]

How many times haven't we heard that before. Gene-X was also to be a real killer. Then Samsung and Broadcom who gave up. Now Qualcomm will try a bit and then go back to phone SoCs.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/microsoft-windows-10-on-arm.2494042/

Actually, now the situation is different since they could have the help of Microsoft... not a killer deal, but enough to steal some Intel marketshare (%).

 

[NTMBK]

How many times haven't we heard that before. Gene-X was also to be a real killer. Then Samsung and Broadcom who gave up. Now Qualcomm will try a bit and then go back to phone SoCs.

x86 also has plenty of dropouts! National Semi, Transmeta, Cyrix, Centaur, IBM... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_x86_manufacturers It only takes a couple of successful companies to drive it forward.

(Not that Qualcomm will necessarily be successful, of course. We still know almost nothing about this new processor!)

 

[ShintaiDK]

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/microsoft-windows-10-on-arm.2494042/

Actually, now the situation is different since they could have the help of Microsoft... not a killer deal, but enough to steal some Intel marketshare (%).

No its not

 

[oak8292]

James Hamilton, Vice President and Distinguished Engineer with Amazon was quoted back in 2014 as saying that ARM would not get into servers but he wrote an interesting blog post earlier in 2016 when Qualcomm started sampling their first 24 core silicon. Bullet points are increasingly competitive foundry transistors and massive customers (big eight) with the scale to write their own software stack.

It is worth a read, here is a summary quote.

"Intel has also gotten very good at working closely with its major customers and, unlike the bad old days, is actually very good to work with. I’m more impressed with what they have been bringing to market than ever. Nonetheless, there are factors that make it very likely that we are going to see some very good server parts based upon ARM in market in the near future. It’s hard to predict the pace of execution of any of the participants nor where this will end up but, generally, change and competition is good for the industry and great for customers."

http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2015/10/arm-server-market/

Hamilton also just made an AWS re:Invent presentation on what is going on at AWS and their server builds for the cloud. It is a also an interesting but very long video presentation.

http://perspectives.mvdirona.com/2016/12/aws-reinvent-2016/

Amazon is now doing their own network silicon for AWS. Amazon has rolled their own ASIC for network virtualization with custom silicon designed by Annapurna labs now owned by Amazon which was previously producing NAS controller.