In September last year, NVIDIA announced that it intends to acquire ARM – a UK-based semiconductor and software design company – for $40 billion.
The post More roadblocks in the NVIDIA-ARM deal’s way appeared first on Pocketnow.
Arm’s new CPU and GPU designs based on ARMv9 tease what’s coming in 2022
The new slate of ARM-v9 based solutions include the Cotex-X2, Cortex-A710, and Cortex-A510 CPU cores, alongside four new GPUs from Arm.
The post Arm’s new CPU and GPU designs based on ARMv9 tease what’s coming in 2022 appeared first on Pocketnow.
NVIDIA is back to making ARM-based CPUs, but only for data centers right now
It's only fair to share...
NVIDIA’s first go at making ARM-based processors didn’t go as well as the company had planned. Leaving the failure years behind, the company is now taking a second stab at making ARM-based processors, but instead of going against established names like Intel and AMD in the consumer electronics segment, the company is taking a safer route by targeting large-scale neural network systems for AI data centers – a domain where its GPUs already do the heavy lifting. Called NVIDIA Grace, the fruit of NVIDIA-ARM’s latest joint effort is expected to become commercially available in 2023.
NVIDIA Grace will be commercially available in 2023
To recall, NVIDIA purchased ARM from SoftBank in a deal valued at $40 billion in September last year. Coming back to NVIDIA Grace, the company says it will offer up to 30X aggregate bandwidth boost compared to today’s fastest servers and ‘up to 10x the performance of today’s fastest servers on the most complex AI and high-performance computing workloads.’ NVIDIA hasn’t namedropped Intel or any of its x86-based Xeon processors here – or AMD’s EPYC range for that matter- but the targets are evident.
Meet NVIDIA Grace – the basic building block of the modern data center. This powerful @Arm-based #CPU allows us to accelerate the largest HPC and #AI workloads. Watch the introduction: https://t.co/z51GV8rkhg #GTC21 pic.twitter.com/EySjYKPsDj
— NVIDIA (@nvidia) April 12, 2021
NVIDIA has gone much into detail about the underlying architecture and core specifics, except for outlining the key areas where it envisions the Grace processor to be used – natural language processing, recommender systems, and AI supercomputing. For now, the company only notes that its latest offering will combine energy-efficient cores with a low-power subsystem. Specifically, NVIDIA Grace will is touted to be the first server CPU to employ the LPDDR5x memory, which the company claims offers 2x bandwidth and 10x higher energy efficiency compared to the DDR4 standard.
NVIDIA is touting 30X aggregate bandwidth boost and 10x performance uptick
The latest NVIDIA offering employs the next-generation Arm Neoverse cores that are said to boost performance as well as energy efficiency. And when paired with NVIDIA’s own GPUs, Grace is said to employ the fourth-gen NVIDIA NVLink interface to offer bidirectional bandwidth of 900 GB/s. Coming to commercial deployment, CSCS and Los Alamos National Laboratory have confirmed plans of making supercomputers based on NVIDIA Grace supercomputers that are expected to go online in 2023.
The post NVIDIA is back to making ARM-based CPUs, but only for data centers right now appeared first on Pocketnow.
It's only fair to share...
It’s happening: NVIDIA to acquire Arm for $40 billion
NVIDIA and SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) have announced a definitive agreement under which NVIDIA will acquire Arm Limited from SoftBank for $40 billion. As part of NVIDIA, Arm will continue to operate its open-licensing model. It will operate as a division of NVIDIA and will remain headquartered in the UK. It will “continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining its global customer neutrality,” the company said. NVIDIA intends to retain the name and strong brand identity of Arm and expand its base in Cambridge. Arm’s intellectual property will remain registered in the U.K.
To recall, SoftBank bought Arm for $31 billion four years ago. The undertakings are scheduled to complete in September 2021. Arm’s tech powers mobile device processors for several companies including Samsung, Apple, and Qualcomm. Moreover, Apple recently announced its switch to Arm-based chips for future Macs. On the other hand, Microsoft is making an Arm-based Surface and a version of Windows for Arm. Hence, the British company will likely only increase in value, as it has since SoftBank acquisition.
For reference, NVIDIA doesn’t do much in mobile hardware. However, it is the leading maker of GPUs, and manufactures Tegra line of mobile chipsets used in devices like the Nintendo Switch. The company is positioning the acquisition as setting up the next stage of AI computing.
Bloomberg reports that “Huang said Nvidia is spending a lot of money for the acquisition and has no incentive to do anything that would cause clients to walk away.” The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals for the U.K., China, the European Union and the United States. Hence, the deal is likely to face intense regulatory scrutiny.
“Arm and NVIDIA share a vision and passion that ubiquitous, energy-efficient computing will help address the world’s most pressing issues from climate change to healthcare, from agriculture to education,” said Simon Segars, CEO of Arm.
The post It’s happening: NVIDIA to acquire Arm for $40 billion appeared first on Pocketnow.
Samsung could be interested in buying a small stake in ARM
It's only fair to share...
It seems that Samsung is also trying to get a piece in a possible sale of the British semiconductor company ARM. The latest rumors suggest that NVIDIA has been in talks to acquire the company from Softbank, but this possible operation has also caused other companies such as Samsung and Apple to show interest.
According to a top anonymous industry official:
“Samsung Electronics is considering acquiring a small stake in Arm, which will be between 3 percent and 5 percent.”
“Arm will be acquired by a consortium led by multiple parties from the semiconductor industry given the complex nature of Arm’s shareholding structure.”
“As seen in Samsung’s previous equity purchasing in ASML, Samsung will likely try to acquire equities in Arm. As Samsung could solidify its partnership with ASML after the equity acquisition, Samsung expects it can reduce its licensing fee expenditure by securing equity in Arm.”
The Korea Times also reports that NVIDIA won’t be able to acquire ARM alone, as Softbank is valuating its semiconductor company for $41 billion. This means that several other companies could also step into this operation. NVIDIA could also be affected by possible concerns of antitrust violations that may end up blocking the deal. The same would happen if Samsung or Apple tried to buy 100 percent of ARM.
“Nvidia won’t become the sole suitor for Arm as the company needs to win approvals from fair trade authorities in countries that are doing business with the British company. I think it will be difficult for Nvidia to gain approval from any of those authorities.”
Source GSM Arena
Via The Korea Times
The post Samsung could be interested in buying a small stake in ARM appeared first on Pocketnow.
It's only fair to share...
Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks to buy semiconductor giant ARM
Nvidia is reportedly in advanced levels of negotiation to buy semiconductor and software giant ARM in a deal worth more than $32 billion. Talks between the two companies began in the past few months when Nvidia approached SoftBank, the Japanese holding company which purchased the chipmaker back in 2016.
“US chip company Nvidia is in talks to buy the UK chip designer Arm from SoftBank in a cash-and-stock deal that would value the unit at more than $32bn, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter,” reports FincancialTimes. A separate Bloomberg report mentions that the two companies might reach a deal in the next few weeks.
The deal terms reportedly involve a cash and stock purchase that would put the initial sale price at over $32 billion. Nvidia’s current market valuation is close to $260 billion, and purchasing ARM – whose chips can be found inside smartphones, PCs, TV and a wide range of other devices – will further boost the graphics hardware giant’s assets and send ripples across the industry.
The post Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks to buy semiconductor giant ARM appeared first on Pocketnow.
ARM unveils Cortex-A78 and Cortex X1 CPUs, Mali-G78 GPU to power 2021 flagships
ARM has today unleashed its latest mobile chip solutions that will make their way to a majority of 2021’s flagship phones. First up is the new Cortex-A78 CPU, which is claimed to bring a performance boost of 20%. It is accompanied by the high-end Mali-G78 GPU and the slightly less powerful Mali-G68 GPU. Lastly, the company has also lifted the covers from the Cortex-X1 CPU that can be customized for top-of-the-line performance.
ARM Cortex A78-CPU
The ARM Cortex-A78 CPU is claimed to bring a 20% sustained performance improvement over the previous-gen ARM Cortex-A77 CPU. It is also said to be 50% more energy efficient compared to its predecessor, 8% less power-hungry for machine learning-based tasks, and will also occupy less space when used in accordance with the DynamIQ cluster (4x Cortex-A78 + 4x Cortex-A55) plan.
ARM Cortex-X1
As per ARM, the Cortex-X1 CPU marks the beginning of a new Cortex-X Custom program that will allow partner brands to work with ARM’s team for designing custom CPUs based on their demand. Essentially, the new initiative opens the doors for customizations to deliver the highest-end performance possible. ARM says the Cortex-X1 CPU will offer a performance gain of 30% over the Cortex-A77 design and a 2x improvement at ML performance among other benefits.
Mali-G78 and Mali-G68 GPUs
Alongside new CPUs, ARM has also announced a pair of new GPUs – the Mali-G78 GPU for flagships and the Mali-G68 GPU for sub-premium phones. Based on the new Valhall architecture, the Mali-G78 GPU is said to offer a 25% performance improvement, 15% performance density improvement, and 10% higher energy efficiency for gaming content over the Mali-G77 GPU.
The Mali-G68 is a cheaper alternative for non-flagship devices and offers support for 6 cores, compared to the 24 core support on its flagship sibling.
Source: ARM
The post ARM unveils Cortex-A78 and Cortex X1 CPUs, Mali-G78 GPU to power 2021 flagships appeared first on Pocketnow.
Pocketnow Daily: OnePlus 8 Pro LEAKED: This Seems FAMILIAR?!(video)
On today's Pocketnow Daily, we talk about the possible leaks of the OnePlus 8 Pro, new Macs without an Intel processor and more
The post Pocketnow Daily: OnePlus 8 Pro LEAKED: This Seems FAMILIAR?!(video) appeared first on Pocketnow.
We could have the first Mac without an Intel processor soon
It seems that we won't get Intel processors in a Mac after 2020 since Apple could be getting ready to include custom-designed ARM chipsets in its devices
The post We could have the first Mac without an Intel processor soon appeared first on Pocketnow.
Snapdragon 7c and 8c enable cheaper ARM laptops
With the two Snapdragon 7c and 8c ARM processors, Qualcomm enables cheaper, and faster Windows laptops, which we'll likely see on shelves in 2020.
The post Snapdragon 7c and 8c enable cheaper ARM laptops appeared first on Pocketnow.
Pinebook Pro Review: A $200 laptop that’s only for cool people.
A Chromebook alternative where you don't have to install Linux yourself? And it can also run Chromium OS or Android off an SD card? Sign me up!
The post Pinebook Pro Review: A $200 laptop that’s only for cool people. appeared first on Pocketnow.
ARM to continue supplying Huawei with chip designs
After thorough investigation, it appears that the Arm v8-A architecture was declared as being of non-U.S. origin, so Huawei can continue using it.
The post ARM to continue supplying Huawei with chip designs appeared first on Pocketnow.
Arm Cortex-A77 could boost Android phone speeds by 20%
Arm introduced its next-generation Cortex-A77 CPU design, alongside its new Mali-G77 graphics processor and Mali-D77 display processor.
The post Arm Cortex-A77 could boost Android phone speeds by 20% appeared first on Pocketnow.
Pocketnow Daily: Is Huawei LOSING their Kirin processors? (video)
On today's Pocketnow Daily, we talk about the possibility of Huawei loosing its Kirin processors, UK 5G network delayed and more.
The post Pocketnow Daily: Is Huawei LOSING their Kirin processors? (video) appeared first on Pocketnow.
ARM lays out plans for 5nm “Hercules” core design by 2020
It's 5 nanometers for 5G, but there's a lot at stake in the race between now and then and plenty of shifting sands. Will ARM have an arm against Intel?
The post ARM lays out plans for 5nm “Hercules” core design by 2020 appeared first on Pocketnow.