Linley Newsletter
Analysis of new developments in microprocessors and other semiconductor products
Current MPR Articles
February 22, 2021
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Horizon Robotics Plots ADAS Journey
In 2Q21, Horizon Robotics plans to start volume production of its Journey 3 ADAS processor. At the same time, it intends to sample Journey 5, which targets Level 4 autonomous vehicles.
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Maxim Showcases Efficient Custom AI
The top-10 microcontroller vendor has hopped on the AI bus with its ultra-low-power MAX78000. The device combines a complete Arm-based MCU with the company’s first deep-learning accelerator (DLA).
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Editorial: Gelsinger’s Big Challenge
New Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, with the help of three trusted lieutenants, must fix the engineering problems that have plagued not just the company’s fab technology but also important server and AI products.
February 15, 2021
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Enflame Stokes AI Acceleration
Enflame Technology closed a 1.8-billion-yuan ($280 million) Series C round last month that includes backing from Tencent. The Shanghai startup now offers a series of AI accelerators for both training and inference.
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MT8192 Creates Chromebook Buzz
Hoping to steal share from Intel, MediaTek raised its sights in the Chromebook market by delivering the MT8192, doubling CPU performance and tripling GPU performance compared with its predecessor.
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Qualcomm Acquires Nuvia for CPUs
Although the startup was developing a custom Arm-compatible CPU core for a new server processor, Qualcomm will redirect this power-efficient core to serve in flagship smartphones and other products.
February 8, 2021
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SambaNova Takes On Nvidia’s DGX
The well-funded startup has developed a custom AI-accelerator chip, called the Cardinal SN10, that implements a coarse-grained reconfigurable architecture (CGRA) to handle training and inference.
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MediaTek Redefines Premium Phones
The Dimensity 1100 and 1200 target an emerging class of devices for customers who want a great smartphone but don’t want to spend $1,000. The D1200 offers industry-leading multicore performance.
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Ceva SensPro2 Doubles AI Throughput
SensoPro2 is a configurable sensor hub, fusing elements from Ceva’s DSPs, computer-vision engines, and deep-learning accelerators. The second-generation design delivers up to 6x faster DSP performance.
February 1, 2021
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Ryzen 5000 Boosts Laptop Performance
AMD’s new PC processors, based on its Cezanne design, target ultrathin and gaming laptops. Using the Zen 3 core, they top Intel’s Tiger Lake products in CPU and graphics performance.
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Exynos 2100 Delivers Big GPU Gain
Samsung’s new Galaxy S21 smartphone sports the Exynos 2100 SoC, which delivers industry-leading AI throughput and an integrated 5G modem. The company’s 5nm technology helps to reduce power.
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Andes Scales Up Its RISC-V
Andes converged its superscalar RISC-V CPU with multicore scaling to create its most powerful cluster to date. The AX45MP targets high-performance applications across diverse markets.
January 25, 2021
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Analysts’ Choice Winners for 2020
The Linley Group recognizes 2020’s top products in the categories of data center, PC, embedded, mobile, networking, processor IP, and related technology. And the winners are…
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Snapdragon 480 Moves 5G to Low End
Qualcomm is augmenting its 2021 Snapdragon portfolio with new 5G processors in the 8- and 4-series and new LTE processors in the 6-series for shipment later this quarter.
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Editorial: DPUs Up Data-Center Efficiency
In 2020, vendors recast various processors, some of which have been around for years, as data-processing units (DPUs). After examining the product field, we’ve added DPU to our product taxonomy.
January 18, 2021
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Year in Review: Smartphone Chips Get Bigger GPUs
Smartphone shipments cratered in 2020, but 5G was a bright spot. The popularity of inexpensive 5G phones pushed MediaTek to the top position in processor sales. GPUs and AI grew in importance.
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Xsight Samples Leading-Edge Switch
Led by a highly successful team, the Israeli startup emerged from stealth last month and announced its first chip, called the X1.
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Editorial: Smart Speakers Get AI Edge
The newest devices from Amazon, Apple, and Google include AI engines that enable them to process some voice commands in the device rather than in the cloud and to perform other new functions.
January 11, 2021
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Apple Ships Its First PC Processor
The M1 processor sets new standards for laptop performance and battery life. The chip shares much of its design with the A14 smartphone processor, including its powerful Firestorm and Icestorm CPUs.
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Year in Review: PC Processors Bounce Back
In 2020, PC shipments surged, AMD topped PC performance, Nvidia’s Ampere GPU impressed, Intel revived its laptop lineup, Apple’s M1 doubled battery life, and two new game consoles debuted.
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Broadcom SmartToR Ups Flow Scale
Broadcom announced three new data-center switch chips in December as well as production of its original Tomahawk 4. The new Trident SmartToR is an 8.0Tbps switch that builds on the 7nm Trident 4 architecture.
January 4, 2021
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Year in Review: IP Adapts to Automotive Roadmap
The latest CPU, deep-learning-accelerator (DLA), DSP, and GPU cores improve safety and performance in vehicles. IP vendors also launched new DLAs that address a broad range of applications.
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SimpleMachines Enables Flexible AI
Startup SimpleMachines received first silicon of its Mozart inference chip, which approaches the flexibility of a GPU while promising the performance of a purpose-built deep-learning accelerator (DLA).
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SiFive Brings Vectors to S-Series
SiFive’s newest RISC-V vector core, the VIS7, can perform 64 gigaflop/s and is designed for deterministic operations. In addition, the new 20G1 release improves 7-series performance and frequency.
December 28, 2020
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Year in Review: Data-Center Silicon Diversifies
Following a difficult 2019, the data-center-chip market had a surprisingly great 2020. AMD and Nvidia delivered important new devices, whereas Intel struggled to execute. More AI startups released products, and Qualcomm’s looming entry could upset the market.
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Exynos 1080 Doubles GPU Throughput
The Exynos 1080 is Samsung’s newest mid-premium smartphone SoC. By shifting to the company’s 5nm LP technology, it boosts performance across the board relative to the older Exynos 980.
December 21, 2020
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Snapdragon 888 Delivers 26 TOPS
Qualcomm’s next-generation Snapdragon 888 provides upgrades in every aspect, besting the premium Snapdragon 865. It delivers an industry-leading 26 TOPS for AI applications.
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Esperanto Minions Excel at AI
Startup Esperanto Technologies has designed a chip with a thousand tiny RISC-V cores based on its ET-Minion design. The power-efficient chip offers strong AI performance on a 20W M.2 module.
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Qualcomm Reveals 5G-RAN Roadmap
Qualcomm recently disclosed a family of 5G-infrastructure chips it plans to sample in 1H22. The forthcoming products will mark its entry into macrocells and virtual baseband units.
December 14, 2020
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Kirin 9000 Is Huawei’s First 5nm Chip
Huawei’s new Kirin 9000, a flagship-smartphone processor, uses an Arm Mali-G78 to provide industry-leading graphics performance. The chip is Huawei’s first 5nm product.
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Editorial: Apple M1 Exposes Intel Gap
Using a custom Arm-compatible processor, Apple has achieved tremendous performance and battery-life gains. Intel must redesign its CPUs to keep pace in thin-and-light laptops.
December 7, 2020
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AMD Releases First CDNA Accelerator
The Instinct MI100 targets high-performance-computing (HPC) systems by doubling the number of compute units relative to the older MI50 while quadrupling FP16 throughput per compute unit.
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Vsora Drives to Deliver Petaflops
Vsora aims to surpass more-established rivals with its new ADxxxx intellectual property, which it designed to handle perception and sensor fusion in Level 4 and 5 self-driving cars.
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Xilinx Reduces Power for 5G Radios
Xilinx will harden its digital front end (DFE) in what it calls the RFSoC DFE. Slated for 1H21 sampling, the new device will halve power dissipation relative to the prior-generation RFSoC with equivalent bandwidth.