[TR] Samsung working on custom 64-bit processor core

[NTMBK]

http://techreport.com/news/25616/samsung-working-on-custom-64-bit-processor-core

Is ANYONE sticking with vanilla ARM cores?

 

[Nothingness]

http://techreport.com/news/25616/samsung-working-on-custom-64-bit-processor-core

Is ANYONE sticking with vanilla ARM cores?

Yes, Altera, you know the chip built by Intel

And dozens of licensees: Mediatek, Qualcomm (yes they still license ARM cores), Calxeda, Rockchip, Broadcom, TI, nVidia... Should I continue? Even Samsung has announced they'll release a SoC based on ARM Cortex-A57.

Companies that are developing their own chips are doing it for differentiation or because they have some specific needs ARM can't address. For the rest, it's economically much better to license a core from ARM.

 

[Lepton87]

Nothing AMR licenses can touch Cyclone cores in A7. Companies that don't design just can't compete with Apple ARM cores. OTOH they compete in completely different ecosystems. iOS vs Android/WP8

 

[ancientarcher]

Yes, Altera, you know the chip built by Intel

And dozens of licensees: Mediatek, Qualcomm (yes they still license ARM cores), Calxeda, Rockchip, Broadcom, TI, nVidia... Should I continue? Even Samsung has announced they'll release a SoC based on ARM Cortex-A57.

Companies that are developing their own chips are doing it for differentiation or because they have some specific needs ARM can't address. For the rest, it's economically much better to license a core from ARM.

ARMv8 has been out for only a couple of years now. Apart from Apple, it seems the only other player to have a ARMv8 core is Applied Micro which designed its own core in XGene. Wait for another 2-3 years, there will be a lot of players with their own cores, specialised for their own applications, be it servers, mobiles, PCs (yes, why not!)...

And yes, the Apple A7 cyclone core is just Apple's first crack at ARMv8 design and that too in a 28nm process tech. In a couple of years, they will have 14/16nm with finfets, and I am sure their cores will be much better.

We will see more of this, I am sure. This is just the start...

 

[Homeles]

Samsung has desperately needed to make this move. Glad they did. I'm skeptical of how robust their architecture team is, though.

 

[Gideon]

Samsung has desperately needed to make this move. Glad they did. I'm skeptical of how robust their architecture team is, though.

Well if the rumors are correct, quite a few of them are from AMD small core team

 

[Homeles]

Well if the rumors are correct, quite a few of them are from AMD small core team

Now I'm even more skeptical

I kid, I kid.

 

[Nothingness]

Samsung has desperately needed to make this move. Glad they did. I'm skeptical of how robust their architecture team is, though.

So you think Apple could build a great team and Samsung won't be able to build a good team?

 

[Homeles]

So you think Apple could build a great team and Samsung won't be able to build a good team?

It's not that they can't, but there's a finite amount of talent in the world.

 

[Nothingness]

It's not that they can't, but there's a finite amount of talent in the world.

Yes, and you can get talent from other companies. Most CPU teams in the worlds have many engineers coming from competitors Of course assembling talents doesn't make a success.

 

[Yuriman]

The open source community hates Samsung's designs because drivers generally need to be written from scratch.

 

[Nothingness]

The open source community hates Samsung's designs because drivers generally need to be written from scratch.

The open source community zealots hate almost all the rest of the world even users of their software They are like all fanboys, detestable and obtuse.

And I've been using Linux for more than 15 years and GNU tools for even longer, so I certainly love open source. But not at all price.

 

[bonehead123]

Samsung knows they have to do this, to stay competitive (both in costs & tech) with all the other tech companies out there, before someone *cough* gets ahead of them and launches their own 64bit chips.......

hummmm, now me wonders who that could be

Funny thing is, they (Samsung) is already making these chips for other companies, so I'm not sure why they didn't see this coming and jump on it earlier...

 

[Ajay]

http://techreport.com/news/25616/samsung-working-on-custom-64-bit-processor-core

Is ANYONE sticking with vanilla ARM cores?

Well their first ARMv8 will be vanilla. The most surprising item in that article is that Samsung expects to start producing 14nm FinFet based SoCs next year - seriously

 

[Arachnotronic]

Well their first ARMv8 will be vanilla. The most surprising item in that article is that Samsung expects to start producing 14nm FinFet based SoCs next year - seriously

Samsung and all of the foundry guys are lying through their teeth because they've been in this irrational game of trying to one up each other ever since Intel went into HVM on FinFETs in Q4 2011.

Do not expect any FinFETs from any of the foundry players on shelves until 2H 2015 and then in limited quantities.

 

[Ajay]

Samsung and all of the foundry guys are lying through their teeth because they've been in this irrational game of trying to one up each other ever since Intel went into HVM on FinFETs in Q4 2011.

Do not expect any FinFETs from any of the foundry players on shelves until 2H 2015 and then in limited quantities.

That's what I thought, but it sure is getting out of hand!

 

[Arachnotronic]

That's what I thought, but it sure is getting out of hand!

Yeah, I mean, just use common sense. Samsung didn't start shipping 28nm HKMG until late Q2 2013 and they want us to believe that 14nm is coming in 2H 2014? I know when I'm being lied to and this is a prime example of it.

 

[Ajay]

Yeah, I mean, just use common sense. Samsung didn't start shipping 28nm HKMG until late Q2 2013 and they want us to believe that 14nm is coming in 2H 2014? I know when I'm being lied to and this is a prime example of it.

I don't get why they do it (foundries), their customers need to know what the real dates are and doubtfully don't sign off on deal till they are well assured (even though allowances must be made for development problems). So why lie to the public? I guess if one foundry is lying, then the all have too or they'll hear from their investors.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I don't get why they do it (foundries), their customers need to know what the real dates are and doubtfully don't sign off on deal till they are well assured (even though allowances must be made for development problems). So why lie to the public? I guess if one foundry is lying, then the all have too or they'll hear from their investors.

One word: investors.

 

[erunion]

Yes, Altera, you know the chip built by Intel

And dozens of licensees: Mediatek, Qualcomm (yes they still license ARM cores), Calxeda, Rockchip, Broadcom, TI, nVidia... Should I continue? Even Samsung has announced they'll release a SoC based on ARM Cortex-A57.

Companies that are developing their own chips are doing it for differentiation or because they have some specific needs ARM can't address. For the rest, it's economically much better to license a core from ARM.

I disagree, it was almost inevitable that Samsung would announce this. Stock ARM cores aren't competitive with Qualcomm or apple. NVIDIA is working on a custom core, Samsung would have been the last high end smartphone on stock ARM cores.

 

[CA19100]

Samsung just had to wait for Apple to release their chip, so they'd have a starting point for the derivative.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Samsung just had to wait for Apple to release their chip, so they'd have a starting point for the derivative.

I'm sure Samsung's foundry hasn't been turning a blind eye to the excellent silicon that has been passing through its factories.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

Now I'm even more skeptical

I kid, I kid.

Mock all you like, what the AMD small core team did with the constraints and resources they had was really, really impressive. That's why they all got poached when the Brazos core was revealed.

So you think Apple could build a great team and Samsung won't be able to build a good team?

Ironically, both did it the same way.

Apple CPU design team = PA SEMI ≃ AMD k8 team.

Samsung CPU design team ≃ AMD small core team.

This is one of the biggest reasons why AMD is hurting so much. As a company that's losing money and not growing, they don't have any good way to retain talent -- anyone who proves to be really good gets poached.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Mock all you like, what the AMD small core team did with the constraints and resources they had was really, really impressive. That's why they all got poached when the Brazos core was revealed.



Ironically, both did it the same way.

Apple CPU design team = PA SEMI ≃ AMD k8 team.

Samsung CPU design team ≃ AMD small core team.

This is one of the biggest reasons why AMD is hurting so much. As a company that's losing money and not growing, they don't have any good way to retain talent -- anyone who proves to be really good gets poached.

It's sad, but it's true. Apple also lifted a GPU team from AMD pretty recently.

 

[Nothingness]

I disagree, it was almost inevitable that Samsung would announce this. Stock ARM cores aren't competitive with Qualcomm or apple. NVIDIA is working on a custom core, Samsung would have been the last high end smartphone on stock ARM cores.

How is that in disagreement with what I wrote?