ARM Expects to Power Half of all Tablet PCs in 2011

Intel's Atom architecture has pretty much become ubiquitous with netbooks, and with tablets shaping up to be the next biggest fad in mobile computing, you can bet the Santa Clara chip maker will look to duplicate its success. Standing in Intel's way, however, is ARM.

ARM has no intention of letting Intel dominate the tablet PC sector the way it has netbooks, and according to Bob Morris, ARM's director of Mobile Computing, ARM processors will wiggle their way into 50 percent of global tablet PCs by 2011.

That works out to a lot of tablets. By Morris' estimation, global tablet PC shipments will total 4 million units by the end of 2010, and then balloon to 21 million units in 2011. Morris also said that Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sharp have already adopted ARM-based processors for their smartbooks and tablets.

iSuppli: Chip Industry Poised for Record Year

In a report issued on Thursday, market research firm iSuppli said the semiconductor industry is on track to generate $300.3 billion in revenue this year, which would be a 30.6 percent boost from the $229.9 billion generated in 2009.

If iSuppli ends up being right, 2010 will be a record year for the worldwide chip industry, toppling the previous record of $275 billion set in 2007. It would also be the second time in 10 years that the industry noted a more than 30 percent increase in revenue. The first time was back in 2000 when chip makers saw a 36.7 percent increase, which was largely attributable to the rise of the Internet.

"Building on the continuing expansion in sales that followed the downturn in late 2008 and early 2009, the semiconductor industry is set to achieve remarkable revenue growth and record size in 2010," said Dale Ford, an analyst with iSuppli. "Chip sales growth this year will be fueled by a number of key factors, including continued strong consumer demand for hot electronic products, diligent inventory and capacity management efforts among chip makers, and the arrival of innovative technologies at both the component and end-system levels."

Even with the positive outlook, Ford warns that the economy remains "the biggest wild card," with a number of financial and economic trouble spots that could ultimately stunt growth.

Image Credit: The Korea Times

iSuppli: Chip Industry Poised for Record Year

In a report issued on Thursday, market research firm iSuppli said the semiconductor industry is on track to generate $300.3 billion in revenue this year, which would be a 30.6 percent boost from the $229.9 billion generated in 2009.

If iSuppli ends up being right, 2010 will be a record year for the worldwide chip industry, toppling the previous record of $275 billion set in 2007. It would also be the second time in 10 years that the industry noted a more than 30 percent increase in revenue. The first time was back in 2000 when chip makers saw a 36.7 percent increase, which was largely attributable to the rise of the Internet.

"Building on the continuing expansion in sales that followed the downturn in late 2008 and early 2009, the semiconductor industry is set to achieve remarkable revenue growth and record size in 2010," said Dale Ford, an analyst with iSuppli. "Chip sales growth this year will be fueled by a number of key factors, including continued strong consumer demand for hot electronic products, diligent inventory and capacity management efforts among chip makers, and the arrival of innovative technologies at both the component and end-system levels."

Even with the positive outlook, Ford warns that the economy remains "the biggest wild card," with a number of financial and economic trouble spots that could ultimately stunt growth.

Image Credit: The Korea Times

Intel Announces Itanium 9300 Processor for Mission-Critical Computing

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Intel this week officially introduced its new Itanium 9300 processor series, which you may recognize by its codename, Tukwila. According to Intel, the 9300 series chips more than double the performance of its predecessor, while also boosting both scalability and reliability.

"Intel is committed to delivering a new era of mission-critical computing, and we are delighted 80 percent of Global 100 companies have chosen Itanium-based servers for their most demanding workloads,"said Kirk Skaugen, vice president Intel Architecture Groupand general manager Data Center Group. "Intel is continuing to drive the economics of Moore's Law into mission-critical computing with today's Itanium 9300 processor announcement, more than doubling performance for our customers once again."

Intel added that OEM systems based on the Itanium 9300-series will be binary-compatible with existing software, giving customers a big performance boost without needing any additional software optimizations.

Prices for the new chips range from $946 to $3,838 in quantities of 1,000.

Image Credit: Intel