The post Qualcomm adopts Arm’s v9 architecture appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Qualcomm has adopted the latest Arm Holdings computing architecture (v9) for its flagship chips, incorporating features to enhance AI performance, according to Reuters.

Reuters:
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The decision at least partially settles a question of whether and how Qualcomm would continue to work with Arm technology, following an acrimonious legal battle between the two last year, and the move is likely to raise revenue for Arm which charges more for the newer tech.

San Diego, California-based Qualcomm last week introduced a new generation of PC and phone chips. Unlike previous generations, two sources familiar with the matter said Qualcomm’s new chips will use the ninth version of Arm’s computing architecture, called “v9” in the industry, which includes several improvements aimed at helping chips handle tasks from chatbots and image generators better.

Qualcomm rivals such as MediaTek, which has at times eclipsed Qualcomm’s market share for mobile phone chips, has publicly confirmed its use of Arm’s v9, and most analysts believe Apple uses it, too.

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MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s chips consistently outperform Qualcomm’s (and everyone else’s) Arm-based processors, even as Qualcomm and others adopt Arm’s v9 architecture, because Apple secures priority access to TSMC’s most advanced manufacturing processes due to its status as the foundry’s largest and most lucrative customer. This gives Apple a significant edge in transistor density, power efficiency, and raw performance that Qualcomm et al. struggle to match on older or less optimized nodes.

Apple also designs its own custom Arm cores with an architectural license, allowing deeper optimizations for performance and integration with its ecosystem, while Qualcomm relies more on Arm’s reference designs and faces higher wafer costs on advanced nodes — up to 16-24% premiums for TSMC’s N3P — due to lacking Apple’s bargaining power.

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The post Nvidia invests $5 billion in beleaguered Intel appeared first on MacDailyNews.

On Thursday, Nvidia announced a $5 billion investment in Intel, bolstering the struggling U.S. chipmaker shortly after the Trump administration secured a major federal government stake in the company. This investment will position Nvidia as one of Intel’s top shareholders, holding approximately 4% of the company following the issuance of new shares to finalize the deal.

Stephen Nellis, Max A. Cherney, and Jeffrey Dastin for Reuters:
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Nvidia’s support represents a new opening for Intel after years of turnaround efforts failed to pay off, and it triggered a jump in the U.S. manufacturer’s shares.

The new pact includes a plan for Intel and Nvidia to jointly develop PC and data center chips, but crucially will not involve Intel’s contract manufacturing business, known as a “foundry” in the chip industry, making chips for Nvidia. Most analysts believe that for Intel’s foundry to survive, it would need to win a large customer such as Nvidia, Apple, Qualcomm, or Broadcom.

Nvidia, whose must-have chips are powering a global artificial intelligence boom, said it would pay $23.28 per share for Intel common stock, slightly below the $24.90 Wednesday closing price but higher than the $20.47 price the U.S. government paid.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of their collaboration but said they would make “multiple generations” of future products. Nvidia and Intel officials described the collaboration as a commercial arrangement under which they will provide chips to one another to create products, with no licensing component.

Under the terms of the deal, Intel will design custom data center central processors Nvidia plans to package with its AI chips, known as GPUs. A proprietary Nvidia technology will let the Intel and Nvidia chips communicate at higher speeds than before.

For consumer markets, Nvidia will provide Intel with a custom graphics chip that Intel can package with its PC central processors with the same speedy links, potentially giving it an edge against rivals such as AMD.

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MacDailyNews Take: Alternatively, Nvidia could have just set $5 billion afire, a feat it could’ve easily achieved simply by tossing the money onto an Intel processor.

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The post Apple’s C1 modem inside iPhone 17 Air will be slower on some carriers appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple has spent years developing its own mobile data modem to replace Qualcomm’s, which it has long depended on. The first Apple-designed modem, the C1 chip, debuted in the iPhone 16e and is expected to power the upcoming iPhone 17 Air. Performance comparisons with Qualcomm’s latest chip have been mixed, but a new Ookla study offers the most detailed analysis yet.

Ben Lovejoy for 9to5Mac:
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Comparing the performance achieved by the iPhone 16, which uses Qualcomm’s chip, with the iPhone 16e, which uses Apple’s own C1 chip, the company was see how each modem fared.

Ookla’s first study, published back in March, showed that the C1 chip beat Qualcomm in a number of key areas. That one showed that the C1 was better in areas of poor mobile coverage, but Qualcomm came out significantly ahead when it came to the areas with the fastest connections.

Performance doesn’t just depend on the chip, but also on the network on which it is used. That’s because different networks support different chip features, as noted in Ookla’s latest study.

For example, carrier aggregation is a technique used to combine different frequencies into a single mobile data connection so as to maximise the total bandwidth achieved. Qualcomm supports aggregation across four carriers, while the C1 modem only supports three. So if you’re on T-Mobile, then having a Qualcomm modem is an advantage.

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MacDailyNews Take: For an iPhone, we’d much rather have a connected iPhone in poor coverage areas than a slightly faster connection in specific conditions.

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