Intel Corp. may be one of the newer chip players in the wireless space, but it already is attracting a green eye from the older mainstays.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and others have seen how Intel Corp. has dominated the mobile computer market with its chips. So, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD has rolled out its own chip in hopes of outperforming rival Intel, which also has dominated the laptop market.
But Intel is not relenting. Last week, it announced an experimental chip that combines microprocessor, flash memory and analog communications circuits with the power to make cell phones smaller than ever.
AMD announced new Athlon and Duron mobile processors and boasts they are faster, more powerful and less of a battery drain than their predecessors.
“AMD PowerNow! Technology not only makes notebooks run cooler and quieter, it offers extended battery life and up to 50 percent more performance than the competition’s offering,” said Pat Moorhead, vice president of desktop and mobile marketing for AMD’s computation products group.
The first of the new products, the Athlon 4, a 1-gigahertz chip, is the top of AMD’s new mobile lineup, said the company. And the fastest of the mobile Duron chips, the company says, runs at 850 megahertz.
Intel’s Pentium 111 with power-saving SpeedStep technology is the first 1-gigahertz chip, which hit the market in March.
AMD said the Athlon 4 processors will be ready in the market later this year in Compaq Computer Corp.’s Presario 1200-notebook line that features Duron chips.
Hewlett-Packard Co. intends to offer systems based on both new mobile processors in a few weeks, according to AMD.
The prices for the new mobile Athlon chips are between $425 for 1 gigahertz to $240 for 850 megahertz.
“Developing power-efficient microprocessors has become a high-stakes competition in the fast-growing segment of notebook computers, which is projected to triple to 30 million units in the United States by the year 2005,” said AMD in a statement.
AMD is not alone flashing green eyes at Intel. Texas Instruments thinks Intel’s new experimental product apes its PDCharm chip, which TI claims does the same thing.
Intel’s product, which the company characterizes as wireless-Internet-on-a-chip technology, may be five times more powerful than those used in today’s cell phone with up to 1GHz speed and a battery life of up to a month, according to a press statement.
“By carefully merging Intel’s low-power, high-performance logic technology with Intel’s high-density flash memory technology and adding precision analog elements, we are able to cost effectively integrate all the key silicon technology elements required for the next generation of wireless devices-without compromising performance or density,” said Sunlin Chou.
The company believes the chip will enable a broad range of wireless devices and many future applications.
Intel thinks the new product could not only reduce the size of the footprints of chips in handsets, but it will also make room for other components like camera lenses.
With reduced power levels, the chances of introducing color screens moves up a notch, according to Intel.
Although Intel believes what it is doing with the wireless-Internet-in-one-chip could be revolutionary, TI says Intel is walking in familiar territory.
“TI’s doing today what Intel would like to do tomorrow,” commented Jeff Wender, spokesman for TI, describing Intel as a new comer to the wireless industry.
Wender points out a Japanese company, DSPC Communications, which he says is Intel-owned, but uses TI’s chips.
“TI delivers analog basebands, RF and power management and our power management is the market leader,” he said.
Standing outside the fray, two other microelectronics companies, Agere Systems and RF Micro Devices, announced a strategic alliance to develop, design and manufacture high-performance chips for next-generation cellular phones and other communications products.
Under the terms of the deal, RFMD will plough in about $58 million over two years to upgrade manufacturing clean room space and buy semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The equipment, said the companies, will be deployed in Agere’s Orlando, Fla., manufacturing facility.
Both companies plan to work together to roll out a class of RF chips based on a semiconductor materials technology called silicon germanium.
“Together, the two companies will work to accelerate the delivery of key semiconductors required for the deployment of next-generation wireless multimedia services on public and private networks, and lower the overall cost of complete wireless component solutions to our customers,” said Greg Waters, vice president of the wireless Business unit at Agere systems.
The alliance also entails creating and staffing an RF center of excellence to advance RF chips and design methodology. The companies also said they will cooperate to bundle power amplifiers with other wireless chips.
