NEC licenses PowerVR SGX

[Xmas]

Intel, Renesas, NEC... the list is growing.
Press release

 

[NANOTEC]

Hopefully they'll make use of the license and build something with it.

 

[Rodéric]

NEC worked with PowerVR previously, they did manufacture the PCX2 (PC) chip, and the CLX2 (Dreamcast) also.
STM did manufacture the KYRO line (PMX1c).

I wonder what NEC is up to...
(ie what market they target with that licence)

 

[Ailuros]

Xmas,

I know you probably cannot answer the question, but I'll ask anyway: is ARM still an IMG technology partner beyond MBX?

 

[NANOTEC]

What is the feasibility of a single chip quad core ARM MPCore and PVR SGX at 65nm?

 

[hey69]

we hear years and years x and y are licensing the powervr technology but when are we going to see something massscale? apart from a few pdas who have the powervr chip

 

[Nappe1]

we hear years and years x and y are licensing the powervr technology but when are we going to see something massscale? apart from a few pdas who have the powervr chip

well, it took from NEC about a year take very small G10 from licensing to production and it has been almost 2 years since they licensed G34, which I expect to show up in products during next 6 to 9 months, if we ever see NEC product using one.

so, knowing how NEC releases licenses, (G10 was licensed around 15-16 months before press release about it) I'd say that NEC has SGX in products in mid-2008 as earliest.

 

[roninja]

we hear years and years x and y are licensing the powervr technology but when are we going to see something massscale? apart from a few pdas who have the powervr chip

Well expect that a few million OMAP2420s shipped in Japan and hopefully we can see OMAP2420 in Nokia handset - quoted clockspeed of the N93 is 314mhz, dvd quality video and ngage games, looks promising to me!

 

[roninja]

Well expect that a few million OMAP2420s shipped in Japan and hopefully we can see OMAP2420 in Nokia handset - quoted clockspeed of the N93 is 314mhz, dvd quality video and ngage games, looks promising to me!

Oh and the SE UIQ3.0 phones all three of those will be shipping soonish.

 

[Lazy8s]

Millions of cellphones have been releasing for over a year with MBX in Japan and Korea. The US is about a year behind them in cellphone technology, and Nokia expects full introduction of their next generation smartphones by early 2007.

NEC may have been considering PowerVR licensing for over a year; Imagination Technologies had mentioned that two more top-ten semiconductor producers were still in advanced negotiations last April.

 

[Ailuros]

IMG claims that NEC is using it's IP in mobile handsets already, which is most likely MBX-whatever which NEC might have licensed from a third party like ARM or whoever else.

The number of announced mobile phone handsets using our PowerVR technology has now risen to over 15, including models from NEC, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola.

http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?ID=626

Does anyone have an idea what NEC phone that might be?

***edit: this has of course nothing to do with SGX; I just wonder where NEC got the MBX license from.

 

[Xmas]

Handset makers buy SoCs, they don't need to license IP.

 

[NANOTEC]

Handset makers buy SoCs, they don't need to license IP.

Not necessarily. Handset makers that also own fabs like NEC may just license the IP and manufacture the chips themselves. That way they can choose whichever process node they deem fit. ImgTech don't fab chips.

 

[Xmas]

Even in that case their handset and semiconductor divisions are likely to be completely separate.
Suffice to say none of the listed handset manufacturers has licensed MBX directly (although Renesas is co-owned by Mitsubishi and Freescale is a spinoff of Motorola). So what I stated is the current reality.


Ailuros,
NEC N902i based on TI OMAP2420.

 

[Ailuros]

Ailuros,
NEC N902i based on TI OMAP2420.

Thanks a lot