Intel forges next-gen chip
By Tom Krazit, December 6, 2002 1:01 pm PT
infoworld.com
AS INNOVATION drives the convergence of computing and communications devices, Intel is building momentum around its mobile strategy and its forthcoming Manitoba chip.
Intel's strategy is unfolding at a time when analysts predict the shift in mainstream cell phone usage from voice-only handsets to units with voice and data capabilities -- near the end of 2003.
And as enterprises plan and implement long-term pervasive computing strategies, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is counting on its ability to leverage its core desktop processing strength.
"Computing devices are communicating more, and communications devices are computing more," said, Intel spokesman Mark Miller. "As phones with color screens and video become mainstream, these phones will need more flash memory and computing capability."
Advanced phones are already common in Japan and some parts of Europe. But the U.S. market is behind the rest of the world, offering significant growth opportunities.
Intel has already taken tentative steps towards the mobile device market with its current XScale chips, PXA210 and PXA250, which are designed for the PDA market and build on the company's older StrongARM chips for mobile handheld devices. The PXA250 is a high-end chip that runs at clock speeds of up to 400MHz, while the PXA210 tops out at 200MHz.
And in October, Intel unveiled the next line of XScale chips, PXA261 and PXA262, at the Intel Developer Forum in Taipei, Taiwan. Targeted at cell phone manufacturers and shipping in sample volumes now, the chips are due to reach production volumes in the first quarter of 2003, Miller said.
Despite the dominance of competitors Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Motorola, several XScale chips have already made it into PDAs, including Hewlett-Packard's iPaq and Dell Computer's new Axim.
Cell phones remain the domain of other manufacturers, which Intel hopes to change with Manitoba. This next version of Intel's XScale architecture is the result of a project to bring the CPU and the DSP (digital signal processor) onto a single piece of silicon, and stacking flash memory atop that chip. This allows device manufacturers to create more powerful phones.
By putting the DSP chip, which clarifies audio signals, on the same piece of silicon as the main application processor, cell phone designers can reduce the size of their handsets.
However, Intel's plan to bring those two chips together on one piece of silicon is not a new idea, and its tardiness in developing such a design will hurt its entry into the market, said Mario Morales, vice president of semiconductors at IDC in Mountain View, Calif.
Rival chip maker TI already sells a chip, its OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) processor, that offers a combined CPU/DSP. TI, based in Dallas, has been selling OMAP processors since late 2000, and Motorola also has the technology in its i250 and i300 processors, Morales said.
Details about Manitoba will be released when the chip launches in the first quarter of 2003, Miller said. It is expected find its way into handsets by the end of 2003, he added.
In 2001, TI held about 19 percent of the revenue in the worldwide cellular base-band and radio semiconductor market with its OMAP processors, according to IDC.
The continued acceptance of Qualcomm's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) processors puts the San Diego company in second place with 18 percent of the revenue; Motorola is third with 14.9 percent.
Despite Intel's uphill battle, analysts argue that it's merely a late bloomer.
"Intel has the greatest semiconductor manufacturing capability, plus billions in cash. They're just not there yet," said Tim Strauss, principal analyst at Forward Concepts in Tempe, Arizona.
Tom Krazit is a Boston-based correspondent at IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate. |
