“The chip inside the new iPad is a microprocessor called the A4 that was designed in-house by Apple, most likely using the expertise it acquired via its 2008 acquisition of PA Semi, a Silicon Valley start-up. Selection of the A4 was described as a blow to both Intel and Qualcomm, since products from those companies were spurned in the process,” Gomes reports. “It certainly was that, but it also suggested that semiconductor technology has matured to the point where for many applications, the Intels of the world might not be necessary anymore.”
“It’s clear that this ‘democratization’ process is occurring right now in semiconductor design,” Gomes reports. “The iPad is a relatively high-end device, yet Apple believed it didn’t need to look outside its own walls for a CPU, and thus could forgo paying any form of ‘Intel tax.'”
Gomes reports, “Of course, Apple is a very big company and, especially for the sort of high-volume product it hopes the iPad to be, it can afford the sorts of up-front engineering expenses that would make smaller companies reel. But if it can afford to make an in-house chip good enough for the iPad in 2010, might it not also be able to make one good enough for the Macintosh in 2013? And if it can do so by then, why couldn’t Hewlett-Packard and Dell also?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is worth more than HP and Dell combined. HP (worth 4.5 times that of Dell) maybe, but a slim chance at best. Dell has no chance; Mikey’s just struggling to find a reason to keep the lights on.