Motorola at 0.09?

[ZeeOwl]

Here's a translation from French by your's truly, of the latest G4 rumour from MacBidouille.

"According to an internal source (thank-you Superced) Motorola has started producing 0.09 µm chips in their Crolles 1 plant.

That's all we know, but if Motorola manages to produce G4s this small, they might be able to re-enter the frequency race.

It would be difficult to catch up with the PPC 970 in brute force, but a 0.09 µm G4 running at 2 GHz would be an excellent replacement for the G3 in Apple's consumer line, particularily in the iBook.

It remains to be seen whether Apple would be willing to overlook their differences [with Motorola], and accept working with them towards a common future.

If we follow Motorola's Roadmap (which they rarely follow themselves), the 0.09 µm G4s would be the 7457-RMs (originally slated for production in 0.1 µm) which incorporate Rapid-IO to maximize memory bandwidth, the current G4's Achilles heel."

For those who read French, here's the original article:
http://www.macbidouille.com/niouzcontenu.php?date=2003-06-01#5682

 

[The Shadow]

Too little, too late (IMHO)

And if you were Apple, would you bet your next house on them when they lost you your last house?

 

[job]

I can see it now....

"1.8Ghz_G4_towers.."

"Available late September."

Let the riots begin.

 

[pseudobrit]

Maybe the 970 will provide Moto with some real incentive to compete in its chip division, since it obviously doesn't see Intel as a competitor (too bad its buyer is too painfully aware that it is).

We might see a bit of a PowerPC MHz race in the next two years -- yay!

PS. there's no reason Apple has to ditch Moto -- they can buy from both IBM and Moto -- in fact, they split the suppliers today as it is (with the G3 and G4).

Anyway, we'll find out soon enough. Today it's June and three weeks away lies the answer.

 

[ZeeOwl]

Re: 1.8 GHz G4 Towers

Originally posted by job
I can see it now....

"1.8Ghz_G4_towers.."

"Available late September."

Let the riots begin.

Lol. Well I wouldn't riot, but I sure as **** wouldn't by one! lol More likely wait for the IBM 2Ghz 750GX to come out and upgrade my B&W again.

I agree with MacBidouille on one thing. This would be interesting news for the consumer line if Motorola can deliver. And if they can't, no sweat. IBM will have the 750GX out within a year. They can easily slap on an AltiVec unit (they already did this with the PPC 970), and presto, instant G4. And I'm sure Motorola is quite aware of this possibility... hehe

 

[job]

Originally posted by pseudobrit
We might see a bit of a PowerPC MHz race in the next two years -- yay!

That would be nice.

Look at how the competition in the x86 market between AMD and Intel drove chip speeds higher and higher.

Competition like that in the PPC arena can only mean good things for us Mac users.

 

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by job
That would be nice.

Look at how the competition in the x86 market between AMD and Intel drove chip speeds higher and higher.

Competition like that in the PPC arena can only mean good things for us Mac users.

The problem may have been systemic from the AIM alliance in the first place. No competition within the alliance, no need to be the best, just as long as everyone gets along.

So maybe Apple's doing the smart thing by playing the chipmakers off of each other. Now if only they has a pool larger than 2 to pick from...

 

[MacRumors]

Motorola at 0.09?

MacBidouille's latest report provides some potential Motorola information.

ZeeOwl again provides translation:

According to an internal source (thank-you Superced) Motorola has started producing 0.09 µm chips in their Crolles 1 plant.

The go on to speculate the implications of this...

That's all we know, but if Motorola manages to produce G4s this small, they might be able to re-enter the frequency race.

It would be difficult to catch up with the PPC 970 in brute force, but a 0.09 µm G4 running at 2 GHz would be an excellent replacement for the G3 in Apple's consumer line, particularily in the iBook.

It remains to be seen whether Apple would be willing to overlook their differences [with Motorola], and accept working with them towards a common future.

If we follow Motorola's Roadmap (which they rarely follow themselves), the 0.09 µm G4s would be the 7457-RMs (originally slated for production in 0.1 µm) which incorporate Rapid-IO to maximize memory bandwidth, the current G4's Achilles heel.

 

[noverflow]

THE ibook ALREADY HAS A g4
IT IS CALLED THE 12in POWERBOOK!!!

untill the 12in pb goes 970, or something else, the ibook will stay at a g3.

i can see it now

well of you look over here we have the ibook g4 and the powerbook 12in

whats the difference?

well one has a slot loading drive, and a metal case.

thats all?

yep... and the powerbook is $500 more.

 

[Freg3000]

Sorry, I just don't believe it. Why would Motorola want to make a .09 G4?

 

[job]

Originally posted by Freg3000
Sorry, I just don't believe it. Why would Motorola want to make a .09 G4?

Competition from IBM?

 

[visor]

might be the low end line

It is hard for me to imagine that Apple will push the 970 into all its existing Production lines.

A low noise low powerdrainer would indeed be a good position for the completely outdated g3 in the ibook.
While the current g4's can hardly replace the g3 for heat reasons, the new one might cope better.

As we see the 'i*' +'e*' line of Apple migrating to the G4 anyway, with only the ibook beeing left g3 - it would make sense.

However, I don't see the new g4 in the Power and server line anymore.

Apple is interested in the serious server business, replacing sun et al is the goal - so the 970 might also make up a completely new production line
Render server extreme - or something like that.

Thinking again - the smaller G4 might also make it in the Powerbooks for the time beeing. i really hate that blow dryer in the Pbooks when they are a bit challenged. The new 15" might be the first to receive it.
Yes, if it's true they are already produced, will see it in the 15" Pbook for sure quite soon. It's to early for 970's on mobile platforms.

 

[QCassidy352]

It seems to me that Moto dropped the ball because they were no longer interested in being in this market. I'm not sure why they would want to get back in now. There was always money to made if they wanted to devote R+D to it, but they weren't interested because they didn't want to be a chip company. Why would that change?

 

[KEL9000]

MOT still makes VME and CPCI Single Board Computers which use the G4. This is in addition to the Embedded Networking Gear. Both of which would benifit from the smaller process. I also don't think apple will be shifting away from G4s in the consumer lines because of the inherent higher cost of a PPC970 system, like super-fast memory. Apple could use the IBM G3+Altivec for a replacement though...

 

[avus]

As far as I know, Motorola's shipping (not planned) G4s are stuck at .18 micron process for last few years, creating all kind of heat-related problems for the PowerMac G4. (and I decided to get an iBook as secondary machine instead of a PowerBook G4 12-inch because the latter is SO DARN HOT!)

They kept saying that .13 would be ready "soon," as they had fallen further behind the industry standard. They just couldn't deliver, PERIOD. Can they skip .13 and go right into producing in .09? I don't think they can.

 

[barkmonster]

"We're Ready To Believe You!"

So they're going to half the size of the process in 1 chip revision, double the L2 cache and increase the FSB to 200Mhz (a common feature of the new 74x7 chips) and ramp up the clockspeed to 2Ghz or something. THIS YEAR!!!



<<Rubs chin repeatedly>>

 

[Mr.Hey]

970 for pro users and the G4 for consumer product.

 

[AndrewMT]

Motorola makes a lot of chips for a lot of different purposes. Exactly what percentage of Motorola's chips go to Apple?

 

[Sun Baked]

Re: [Rumour] Motorola Goes All Out

Originally posted by ZeeOwl
If we follow Motorola's Roadmap (which they rarely follow themselves), the 0.09 µm G4s would be the 7457-RMs (originally slated for production in 0.1 µm) which incorporate Rapid-IO to maximize memory bandwidth, the current G4's Achilles heel."

I thought this was the processor was s-canned, it was the only processor that could have been called the G5 -- and the rumor mill was talking about the canceling of the G5 project.

The 7457 on the .13 process should be in the mill, the 7455B should have been the major incremental step towards the 7457.

 

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by job
Competition from IBM?

Urg, apple doesn't sell enough computers to have real competition.

If one is stronger, one wins.
Unless you want to get the consumer confused again.
'Over here we have the 2.0 GHZ iMac' and here we have the more Power Full '1.8 GHZ 970'

 

[mathiasr]

Errr... to my knowledge Crolles (near Grenoble, France) is a research center (memory & process oriented) and not a PowerPC fab.

http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,1958,1308_988_23,00.html

http://www.semiconductor-technology.com/projects/crolles/


Crolles2 presentation in French:
http://www.motorola.com/content/0,,655-1206,00.html

Notice that the rumor states Crolles1 this is about Crolles2.

 

[ouketii]

yeeeaahh, i'm doubting motorola is going to ever make any newer chips than the g4

 

[NavyIntel007]

That would be COOOL!!!!!

 

[mim]

Originally posted by mathiasr
Errr... to my knowledge Crolles (near Grenoble, France) is a research center (memory & process oriented) and not a PowerPC fab.

http://www.motorola.com/mediacenter/news/detail/0,1958,1308_988_23,00.html

Yup - this even mentions that the 90nm process is for RAM. Doesn't mention G4 or 7457 or anything like that...

Motorola brings to the alliance its portfolio of leading-edge technologies, including SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator) and embedded MRAM technologies as well as its know-how in advanced copper interconnect. This contribution builds upon the existing Philips and ST cooperation for core CMOS processes, which includes embedded DRAM, SRAM and analog CMOS.

I think moto are out of the processor race - for the moment. Their current focus on embedded systems may pay out big time in the next 10 years or so though.

 

[ZeeOwl]

Originally posted by mathiasr
Errr... to my knowledge Crolles (near Grenoble, France) is a research center (memory & process oriented) and not a PowerPC fab

That's quite possible. I have no idea what (or where) the Crolles 1 plant is. I'm just the messenger (translator?). Please don't shoot me. hehe

But to be fair, the MacBidouille article reports that Motorola is producing 0.09 µm chips at this plant. They do not say what these chips are. In fact, they actually specify that they don't know what they are. They are only speculating that if Motorola is capable of producing 0.09 µm chips, that they might eventually produce G4s using this process.