Intel to manufacture Spreadtrum Socs

T

tangey

Veteran
I know digitimes is hardly even at wikipedia accuracy but they are running a story this morning, that Intel will manufacture 14nm Socs for Spreadtrum. Mentions Samsung as a potential buyer of the chips. Article also suggests that Spreadtrum will due source with TSMC too.

I don't think IMG have every formally confirmed it, but Spreadtrum is strongly assumed to be the graphics licencee that IMG announced some time back.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20161003PD203.html


The tie-up between spreadtrum and Intel @ 14nm was flagged over a year ago.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326692
 
Last edited:
...Spreadtrum? What an unusual name... Chinese company apparently. Not a small one, either.

Still, that fuckin' name. Wow. Why do tech companies, especially the ones founded in the 90s and beyond, always have weird names?
 
It's seemingly named after a BIOS option, spread spectrum, that I always thought was weird : it feels good to enable it, and it feels good to disable it.
Hard to know when one is better than the other, but it will make you smart from tweaking it.

I do like the name, it seems to say it's a company of electrical engineers and that their chips comply with emission regulations, albeit all I know is they make some low end consumer electronics chips like Mediatek or Rockchip do.
 
Last edited:
Weird name indeed. Although I think it'll probably be good for Intel. As it says in that article; sometimes they move too slowly. For a mobile those chips seem fine, although a Raspberry Pi might be more functional for other projects. I'll be interested to see what Spreadtrum and Intel churn out in the future.
 
Spreadtrum confirmed today as producing an intel manufactured Soc, with IMG graphics. SC9861G-1A soc manufactured on 14nm Intel tech, using PowerVr GT7200. Mass production Q2 2017.

The most interesting thing is that it is using 8-core Atom Airmont for the cpus ? I thought the Intel / Spreadtrum deal didn't require spreadtrum to use Intel IA.

http://www.spreadtrum.com/en/show_news.html?id=fe766282-e9cc-4ffd-b211-e3d19675d3f7

What sockets could this get ?, it doesn't strike me as something people will be rushing for ?

Perhaps this is just the first step. Intel have already stated their foundry will produce ARM socs @ 10nm.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330311
Note that in the above article, Spreadtrum was mentioned using 14nm process. Given the article was about Intel/Arm, the inference was that the Spreadtrum Soc would be using ARM cpus.
 
Last edited:
The link is not opening for me right now, however an 8 core (Intel) CPU with something as modest as a GT7200? What am I missing?

***edit: for those the Spreadtrum link also doesn't open right now, product marketing video for the SoC
 
Last edited:
Spreadtrum web server is crappy. Here's another copy of the PR

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/spreadtrum-launches-14nm-8-core-070000944.html

SC9861G-IA is based on 64-bit 8-core 2.0 GHz Intel Airmont architecture, Imagination PowerVR GT7200 GPU, and developed on Intel's advanced 14nm process technology via its comprehensive foundry services. It uses Intel® Virtualization Technology to support a multi-domain security system architecture and provide security for smart devices.
Click to expand...
 
Sounds like a very unbalanced config to the layman here.

***edit: by the way now the gordian knot between Intel, Tsinghua University, Spreadtrum and IMG has been somewhat untied.....Intel invests 1.5b in Tsinghua (in 2014?) whereby both start to co-develop semi-custom server solutions for the chinese market. At the same time Intel strikes a deal with Spreadtrum where the latter designs ULP mobile SoCs with Intel CPU IP and manufactured at Intel's foundries, while they contain Imagination GPU IP. In the middle of that weird love affair Intel sold its stake in IMG, for which Tsingua in a surprising move bought 3% of stake in early 16' in Imagination.

I've probably fetched a few details here and there wrong, however who wants to convince me that all the above is "just" a "coincidence"?
 
Last edited:
Ailuros said:
Sounds like a very unbalanced config to the layman here.

***edit: by the way now the gordian knot between Intel, Tsinghua University, Spreadtrum and IMG has been somewhat untied.....Intel invests 1.5b in Tsinghua (in 2014?) whereby both start to co-develop semi-custom server solutions for the chinese market. At the same time Intel strikes a deal with Spreadtrum where the latter designs ULP mobile SoCs with Intel CPU IP and manufactured at Intel's foundries, while they contain Imagination GPU IP. In the middle of that weird love affair Intel sold its stake in IMG, for which Tsingua in a surprising move bought 3% of stake in early 16' in Imagination.

I've probably fetched a few details here and there wrong, however who wants to convince me that all the above is "just" a "coincidence"?
Click to expand...

The eetimes article today refers to the various details you mentioned. They conclude that it's all part of a bigger intel play to sell modem stuff to Apple.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1331424
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top