Intel Corporation Message Board

5/23/2013 7:29 PM EDT
The process names are actually P1270 and P1271. Perhaps you mis-heard your ...

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Intel Haswell packs integrated voltage regulator
Rick Merritt
5/23/2013 2:53 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Intel will pack a voltage regulator on to its next generation Haswell processor, eliminating as many as seven external third party chips. The news was one of a few details Intel revealed in a Haswell briefing the same day its archrival Advanced Micro Devices announced three mobile processors.

Intel sketched out several steps it took to lower power consumption in Haswell, its next generation x86 processor geared for everything from 7W tablets to 75W servers. The techniques included integrating a voltage regulator, enhancing its 22nm process and using new power planes and states. It previously disclosed Haswell also will use a new on-chip DRAM.

Power is a major focus for Intel given its rising competition especially in tablets and servers with generally lower power chips based on ARM cores. Intel likely gave up the possibility of higher data rates in Haswell to capture the power savings. The first Haswell chips are expected to ship later this year.

Some Haswell chips will put two die in a package. The second die will be an integrated north and south bridge chip connected to the main CPU using a new low power interconnect.

All Haswell chips will sport an on-chip voltage regulator. It will combine what was in previous CPUs as many as seven external voltage regulators made by third parties, lower the bill of materials and motherboard footprint, said Rani Borkar, general manager of the Intel Architecture Group which designs the company’s main processors.

Gartner Inc. pegs the market for Intel Vcore regulators at roughly $325 million. It is slowly declining due price erosion of the components and declines in the overall PC market, said Stephan Ohr, Gartner analys

Can INTC use its excess capacity to build SSDs and PCI-e SSDs? The HDD is on it's way out. I believe PCI-e SSDs will replace SSDs in the future. INTC SSDs are rock solid, so say the experts at Tom's Hardware. Can INTC do a leap frog on Seagate, use its excess capacity to make serious inroads into the PCI-e SSD market? INTC already stopped making motherboards. Motherboards are becoming a commodity (Taiwan makes excellent, cheap Mobos) but the SSD market is still in its infancy.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Excerpt:

I believe that I may have severely underestimated the fragility of ARM's (ARMH) share price in the face of potential design win loss to Intel's (INTC) chips. In just a couple of days, shares of ARM Holdings have crashed from $50.56 to the most recent close of $45.82 following ARM's recent investor meeting. Morgan Stanley (MS) recommending shorting the shares on almost exactly the same reasons that have fueled my thesis (valuation, Intel threat, ASP erosion in smartphone space, etc.), which may have sparked this initial drop. However, I believe that we are now about to see a fundamental shift in sentiment that will do some very serious damage to ARM's multiple. The upcoming "Computex" event in Taipei, Taiwan will likely trigger the next leg down.

From Ashraf

Intel has been producing chips on the 22 nm node since last year while its major competitors like Samsung, Global Foundries and TSMC (TSM) are still stuck in the 28/32 nm node. Intel is all set to produce the first chips on the 14 nm node in 2014, while TSMC might get to the 20 nm node by end of 2013.

Samsung's 28nm chip production is still lagging far behind rival TSMC, industry observers believe. Samsung currently makes the majority of its advanced chips for 32nm chip contracts placed by Apple, the observers said. Samsung's 28nm chip output remains limited due to insufficient yield rates, in contrast to TSMC's 28nm chip production that already reached commercial levels, the observers noted. TSMC, which does not provide 32nm process technology, has said that the company would triple production and revenues from 28nm wafers in 2013 compared with 2012. The foundry set a record capex of US$9.5-10 billion for 2013, also stepping up efforts to bring 20nm capacity online.

There are doubts whether TSMC or others will be able to get to 20 nm by 2013, as they do not have the process and manufacturing expertise of Intel. If these foundries fail to make the necessary technology advancements, then Intel will sweep the mobile devices market with its Atom chips. ARM stock will crater dramatically if this happens. Intel does not allow foundry services for chips made using the ARM architecture, even though its factory utilization was just 50% during the 4th quarter of 2012.

From Sneha Shah

to get the stock going. Mr Weaver can keep pumping here, it doesn't matter one little bit.

ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH): In light of Tuesday’s analyst day, Canaccord raised its estimates for the company after its management pointed out strong long-term royalty and market growth opportunities into high and low tier smartphones. Canaccord also believes it is well positioned to benefit from increasing emerging market feature phones, tablets, and high-tier smartphone refreshes. It rates the shares at Buy with a $56 price target, up from $52.