Apple Buys P.A. Semi

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Today Forbes reports something unthinkable, something no one saw coming. Something so big, one wonders, WHY IS APPLE W/ INTEL IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?

 

Today, Forbes reports that Apple Inc. just picked up P.A. Semi for $278 million. P.A Semi was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl. Dobberpuhl was the lead designer for the StrongARM processor which became Intel's XScale when DEC Corporation folded. The company had 150 employees during the purchase, many of them had experience designing different processors from Intel Itanium, AMD Opterons to Sun Microsystems' UltraSPARC processors. Dan's team is dedicated to design a powerful PowerPC chip while using minuet power requirements. The dual-core processor clocked at 2GHz ran at only 5 - 13W.

 

Although no current Apple products use P.A. Semi chips, Apple executives kept a close eye on the work of the start-up. Talks of acquiring P.A. Semi began only in the past few weeks. Employees have been notified of the deal.

 

It will likely take at least a year before products incorporating P.A. Semi designs are ready. The company's flagship chip is at the heart of heavy-duty computing systems, such as those sold by NEC's (nasdaq: NIPNY - news - people ) storage division. But the design philosophy--hefty processing power and frugal power use--are in concert with Apple's directions. Although Apple plans to continue supporting P.A. Semi's current customers, insiders suggest that Jobs plans to use future P.A. Semi chips exclusively within Apple products.

 

At that point, executives believe the company will have created a unique asset--a powerful microprocessor that sips power lightly and so can support just about any imaginable applications Apple's software gurus can imagine .

Source: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/04/2_0422apple.html&refURL=&referrer=

 

Now, I'm wondering, why oh why did Apple partner up with Intel and produce Macs with them? I would be using highly power efficient laptops if it weren't for Apple's grand mistake of going Intel. I wouldn't have to live with constantly monitoring my Macbook to see if it's going to explode whenever my CPU peaks 82C on heavy load. I just really really hope Apple goes back to PowerPC, the Intel deal was a joke.

 

xboxrulz

[jimmy89 0]

Well, after this, Apple might just scrap the Intel processors altogether! And it sounds like a great processor they are working on also, lets hope the next generation of macs come with it!

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Exactly my thoughts. They tried to work together, but Apple just ditch their talks and went Intel out of the blue on them.Which was very unfortunate.xboxrulz

[Quatrux 4]

Interesting, I wonder how this might end, it seems that they did a good decision.

[darasen 0]

This is interesting news indeed. I do understand why Aplle made the deal with Intel. The power PC chips were under-performing for one. Another advantage of the Intel macs is the ability to use BootCamp and run Windows on them if you must. I do not see them switching from the Intel chips in the near future. Apple is just now getting all those who make Mac software to make it Intel native. Another chip switch so soon after the Intel one could well discourage many potential and current Mac users. I am willing to bet that the goal of Apple is for chips for other products such as iPhones and iTV's. Perhaps they are looking for more powerful component chips as well for things like Bios chips and graphics processors.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Maybe for the G4 chips they were underperforming. However, for the G5 (PPC970), they were pretty good, they were comparably just as fast as Intel at the time. Of course now Intel's processor surpass them because of the updated innovations.xboxrulz