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Tilera sees sense in the server wars, puts just 36 cores in its newest processor
While Tilera's forthcoming 100-core processors threaten to set off fire alarms around the world, the company has finally brought out its more sensible 36-core variant. The 1.2GHz Tile-GX36 sips just 24 watts and is designed to be especially handy with short and sharp jobs like processing internet transactions. It's a reduced instruction set (RISC) chip, so it's less power hungry and cheaper than Intel's x86 silicon. It also sports 64-bit architecture, whereas rival ARM is set to remain 32-bit until 2014. Then again, with Tilera lagging behind in terms of brand recognition and software support, a two-year head start might not be long enough.
Fuzhou Rockchip hypes RK2918 chip for bargain ICS phones and tablets
Could Fuzhou Rockchip's new RK2918 be the next go-to processor for a budget Android 4.0 experience? We already spotted this fleck of silicon running in the company's PAD prototype (shown above) and now we're told it'll also power a China-targeted ICS smartphone made by AirTouch, as well as an 'eHome Cloud Solution' that'll somehow make it easier for smartphones, tablets and PCs to share resources over a home network. Rockchip claims it's becoming a "virtual behemoth in North America," but only hands-on time with its latest products will tell whether that means 'big' or just 'monstrous'. Read on for more ambiguous details in the press release.
NTT Docomo, Panasonic, Samsung and more team up to take on Qualcomm over cellphone chips
Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo just announced (as had been rumored) it's forming a joint venture with five partners -- Samsung, Panasonic, Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Semiconductor and NEC -- to develop and sell chips for mobile devices. According to the press release the fabless JV will get started once all involved finish hammering out the details and focus on creating LTE-connected products for the global market. NTT Docomo is investing $5.8 million to create a subsidiary, Communication Platform Planning Co., in preparation with one of its executives as CEO. Currently Qualcomm makes the majority of chips found in smartphones, but it appears to have some high-powered competition on the way soon.
