“If you listen to Intel, the last hold-outs against the x86 instruction set are about to fall — with super-powered Nehalem swarms mopping up the high end of massed Power PC supercomputers, and sneaky little Atoms nibbling away at the ARM embedded market,” Rupert Goodwins reports for ZDNet UK.
“Apple doesn’t listen to Intel much. While everyone’s been assuming that an Atom-powered iPhone was a done deal, and getting used to the idea that MacBooks are just Intel laptops with a different OS, Steve Jobs nipped out the back and bought PA Semi. Which is a small CPU company, led by the bloke who was lead designer on the Alpha and StrongARM chips, and which now makes low-power (like ARM) PowerPC-compatible chips that have comparable performance to Intel’s desktop chips,” Goodwins reports.
“Apple can now make its own processors,” Goodwins reports.
“What happens next? Apple now has a very good CPU design team, together with a license for a very capable architecture. The company thrives on differentiation, something that’s been getting harder and harder to do with Intel. I know everyone’s fixated on that darn iPhone, but for this year at least, PA Semi is a much better fit for other parts of the Apple world, and now Apple can break free of the Intel roadmap that its competitors are marching on,” Goodwins reports.
Full article here.
I’ll wager Jobs was POed when Apple was forced by Intel to update the CPUs (so soon) in the laptops. This is for the brains and the IP.
Agree with Spark. It may just provide the needed leverage to keep Intel on its toes.
However, if these current chips that company makes are PowerPC compatible, then OS X could easily be made to run on them. I could see a powerful PowerPC workstation MacPro that runs Universal apps (though it wouldn’t be able to run doze natively, but many of us don’t care). Intel won’t go away from the consumer line for a very long time.
More than likely, these chips will end up in a future line of iPods and phones. If nothing else, Apple will now have a team that can design these chips if other companies aren’t doing it fast enough or good enough in Jobs’ eyes. Then they can always farm out the manufacturing to China like everybody else does. Who here doesn’t think future Apple-inspired chips would rock?
Apple’s corporate structure seems to allow software and hardware design to flourish. Why not the nuts and bolts of computers, too?
Brings a whole new meaning to the term “Made by Apple”
I can see the marketing arm of Apple taking off with the phase “Designed by Apple/Built by IBM” or “Intell like but better cause it’s a Apple”
Steve never gets himself locked in to anyone for long…
This doesn’t have to do with intel so much as it has to do with ARM processors.
If Apple wants to get rid of any 3rd party component providers it won’t be intel its going to be ARM. Because its those processors that are in the iphone/ipod touch. If they get this PA Semi to design new stuff for them it won’t be going in their macbooks or mac pros it will be going into any mobile device. Sure, that would mean Apple will not be using intel’s atom chip which would dissapoint intel. But Apple is still in business with intel to provide them with chips for those same macbooks and pro machines….oh and the imac.
If there is any business that is in jeopardy it would be ARM and any agreement they have with Apple.
Apple will not kill Intel Macs, not yet.
They will wait until market share is > 50%, then switch.
Wait until OS X is widely adopted by large companies.
RIP Intel, RIP M$, RIP Clone Makers
Apple is keeping it’s options open. Simple. They don’t want to be locked into another processor only to have it fall behind. Sure, Intel is doing good so far, but it could easily be passed up by some new company or some new development.
I think it is a great thing that Apple has the option to use either PowerPC or Intel in future computers. It is a move that Microsoft could have kept open back in the NT4 days………
@ Ampar
Cheney aims for the face.
“Cheney aims for the face.”
True. Karl Rove is more of an ass man.
“Dick Cheney again this week was in the hospital. He was experiencing discomfort in his leg. And the doctor asked Cheney if he stretches. Cheney said, ‘Are you kidding? I linked 9/11 with Saddam Hussein.'” –Bill Maher
My take. Apple is going to ditch Intel quicker than Intel forces Apple to phase out chips.
PA Semi has been designing and lower powered server processors and embedded processors for Network Appliances not mobile processors. Apple’s was still part owner of the PPC chips designed by IBM and Motorola as the PPC Chips were a collaboration between the three companies. This moves gives them a larger stake and a branch of the PPC chip they can move forward to meet a future need.
I see the move as Apple getting involved in processors new versions or for products like the Apple TV, Airport Extreme, XServe, Time Capsule, and perhaps a specialized high-end workstation for Video and/or Audio production.
I don’t see Apple jumping back to PPC processors for the Laptop and Desktops anytime soon unless Intel really fumbles and screws Apple. Apple understands that a lot of the sales momentum they have is because they are using Intel Processors and it removes the well PC are better then Macs because PC’s are faster… yada.. yada.. yada.. arguments and perceptions.
Apple has a need for processors in a lot of other products other then the Desktops, Laptops, iPhones and iPods, That can benefit from PA semi chip designs without altering the processor roadmap that they are on. Apple got PA Semi for a bargain price and even putting twice the purchase price into the company for R&D;and expansion they could add to PA Semi processor roadmap to include a mobile processor but it couldn’t be ready for production less then 3 years.
Apple could be looking at the long road big picture too, and to 128 bit RISC PPC processors which PA Semi has flirted with.
Yep. Roughly Drafted has it nailed.
@Ampar….thanks for the laugh….I am still chuckling.
Buster:
This is a load of speculative rubbish!
The move to Intel has not at all made Apple Macbooks “just Intel laptops with a different OS”
This guy must be one of those loser PowerPC fans still lamenting the “glory days” of water cooled hardware that still wasn’t as quick as what Intel are now producing.
Lets face it, the truth is that Intel lost their way for some years producing substandard processors, however with a bit of competition from AMD (go a healthy non-monopoly), they pulled their collective fingers and heads out of their asses and started designing some amazing low wattage, high powered processors.
I agree with the notion that this move is to use some now Apple proprietry processors within the Mac hardware specs to block out the cloners.
There is CLEAR evidence that along with superior laptop products to what was on offer under PowerPC, the move to Intel has allowed Apple to “nurse” Windows addicts across to the Mac OS X platform with the reassurance of being able to run Windows if they need to.
my 2 cents,
Luke
@priused
your ASIC idea is exactly what I thought when I first heard this, Apple probably bought this to run some hardware like graphic cards or to pump heavy apps like photoshop–think apple laptops on steroids!!
LONG LIVE ALTIVEC!