Qualcomm to move Snapdragon to 28nm in 2011
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Qualcomm is set to introduce a 28nm version of its Snapdragon processor in 2011. Announcing the move at the company's analyst day, executive vice president Steve Mollenkopf, pictured, who is also president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, said: "Those who bet against integration have lost."
The latest Snapdragon, the MSM8960, will spearhead Qualcomm's move into 28nm production. "28nm will enable us to drive integration at the high end," he claimed, "and you will also see migration into the mass smartphone market. We will take 28nm and use it to drive our technology leadership, while focusing on cost optimisation in the mid and lower tiers. We expect 28nm technology to further distance ourselves from the competition."
The MSM8960 will be a dual core device featuring an upgraded CPU core based on a new micro architecture. Mollenkopf compared the specs of the MSM8960 to the first Snapdragon device, the MSM8250. "It will have five times the MIPS performance while consuming 75% less power. It will have an integrated LTE multimode modem and support for all 3G modes. It will have four times the graphics performance and will support Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and fm radio."
Reviewing the company's 2010 performance, Mollenkopf said Qualcomm had continued to ship 'enormous numbers of devices'. "We have shipped 7billion asics in the company's history, as well as more than 2bn MSM devices. We will ship 400million MSMs in 2010 and have launched 745 devices during the year."
Today, he noted, Snapdragon processors are in 55 devices, with 125 designs in process, including 10 in tablets.
