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27/10/2009
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ARM looks to compete in Intel's territory
Ex Prime Minister Harold Wilson was, it appears, responsible for a number of phrases which have entered general use. Alongside 'a week is a long time in politics', Wilson is generally credited with coining 'get your tanks off my lawn' during a conversation with a trade union leader in the 1960s. It's a phrase that may be picked up over the next few months by Intel and ARM, who seem to be on a mission to take business from each other.
Intel, of course, has had the pc processor market wrapped up for years. ARM, by contrast, has the lion's share of the mobile phone processor business.
The question is which of the two will utter the phrase first. ARM is patently targeting the Atom processor with its recent launch of the Cortex-A9 core. Making no secret of its ambitions, the company predicts its technology will be driving netbooks, mobile internet devices, high end entertainment devices, print servers and the like, markets which Intel might believe would be its natural territory.
Hot on the heels of this launch, ARM has now unveiled the Cortex-A5 – a core said to bring internet capability to ultra low cost mobile phones and feature handsets, as well as to other low cost devices where internet applications could be deployed.
While ARM is being aggressive with its market aspirations, it is being relatively conservative with technology, targeting the A9 and the A5 at 40nm processes. It's unlikely Intel will stand by; it will be able to move its various Atom processors to the next node fairly quickly, providing better efficiency and price performance.
Whether tanks are deployed metaphorically on lawns remains to be seen, but the next few months will see a serious battle for the customer's affections.
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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