Intel: Microprocessor Report Chronicles Lead in Micro-Server, 3-D Transistors

From venerable technology newsletter Microprocessor Report, come two intriguing technical articles today discussing some of the technology advantages of the chip giant.

Intel shares today closed up 36 cents, or 1.5%, at $23.76.

The first article is by the Report’s Jag Bolaria, who notes that Intel has become more aggressive with low-power chips for so-called “micro-servers” in order to compete with forthcoming designs from licensees of ARM Holdings‘s (ARMH) instruction set architecture.

The other article is by the Report’s Tom Halfhill, who writes that contract chip manufacturersTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) and GlobalFoundries are “struggling” to catch up to Intel’s lead in process technology, as the company was first to market with three-dimensional transistors, which Intel calls “Tri-Gate,” and which the industry generall refers to as “FinFet.”

After reviewing plans laid out by Global and by TSM in February and April, respectively, Halfhill finds the milestones and plans offered leave both trailing Intel’s pace:

All the independent foundries are still scrambling to catch up with Intel. Their first FinFET processes won’t reach volume production until 2015, three years after Intel’s FinFETs made their revolutionary debut. Second, the foundries’ FinFETs will first appear in “14nm” or “16nm” processes that essentially add the three-dimensional transistors to previous-generation 20nm technology, achieving worthwhile gains in speed and power but relatively little improvement in logic density. And third, lithography costs are expected to jump dramatically after the 28nm node, potentially deterring many chip companies from moving beyond 28nm for quite a while.

Read Full Story @ Barron's Blog

AMD-SeaMicro Deal Shows Strange Server Bedfellows

By Don Clark

Companies that need to catch up to competitors sometimes try what seem like odd ideas. The deal by chip maker Advanced Micro Devices to buy server maker SeaMicro seems to fit the pattern, and it isn’t the only option that was considered.
People familiar with the matter say that AMD–for decades a distant second to Intel in microprocessor chips–also flirted with the possibility of buying Calxeda, another startup developing technology for energy-efficient servers.
Lisa Su, a recent recruit to AMD and senior vice president who led a briefing about the SeaMicro deal Wednesday, didn’t mention Calxeda by name but stressed that her company had examined multiple alternatives.
Karl Freund, Calxeda’s vice president of marketing, declined to comment on any talks with AMD. “We are just heads-down and focused on getting this product out in the marketplace,” he said. “Our plan is to continue to go after this as an independent company.”
SeaMicro, at the same time, made it clear that it had other potential suitors before settling on the $334 million offer from AMD. Andrew Feldman, its chief executive, told reporters that the interest came from customers of its servers, other computer makers and chip makers. “We had many companies excited about what we were doing,” he said.
Behind the maneuvering is a race to cash in as companies stock up on server systems–and find that their bills for electricity are an increasing headache. It’s a big deal for companies like AMD and Intel, which sell chips for servers, and a looming opportunity for ARM Holdings, which licenses chip designs for mobile devices but thinks its power-sipping chips could become very popular in servers, too.

Rest of the article @ Wall Street Journal

SeaMicro teams up with Intel and Samsung on energy-efficient micro servers | VentureBeat

SeaMicro teams up with Intel and Samsung on energy-efficient micro servers | VentureBeat:

SeaMicro announced a new generation of “micro servers” today that use Intel’s high-end Xeon microprocessors.

SeaMicro’s server boards
 use only a processor, memory,
and a SeaMicro custom chip.

The new Xeon-based SeaMicro SM10000-XE micro server uses half the power and a third of the space of previous servers. It can also handle heavyweight workloads for data center computing.

“This is an important step forward in servers, the mainstreaming of the micro server,” said Andrew Feldman (pictured at bottom), chief executive of SeaMicro. “This is the most energy-efficient Xeon server ever built.”

SeaMicro will use Intel Xeon processors in a “micro server” in partnership with Intel and Samsung. Previously, SeaMicro used low-cost, low-power Atom microprocessors in its micro servers.

The SeaMicro server shown today replaces 500 servers from five years ago. One rack of servers replaces 50 from five years ago, Feldman said.

More @ VentureBeat