英特爾將加快推出新款A(yù)tom內(nèi)核設(shè)計(jì)，壓低其筆記本芯片的目標(biāo)功耗，擴(kuò)展其SoC的熱能區(qū)。這是英特爾x86芯片打入智能手機(jī)與平板領(lǐng)域并抗衡ARM的最新舉措。 英特爾首席執(zhí)行官Paul Otellini在一次分析師會(huì)議上表示：“我們認(rèn)為原來(lái)的路線圖不適當(dāng)，需要改變中心點(diǎn)?！彼硎?，這種調(diào)整的重要意義堪比奔騰和迅馳設(shè)計(jì)問(wèn)世。 具體而言，英特爾將在2014年推出一個(gè)14納米Atom內(nèi)核，名為“Airmont”，同時(shí)將推出使用該工藝技術(shù)的主流PC CPU。英特爾現(xiàn)在的Atom內(nèi)核基于45納米制程，比其PC芯片落后一代。 在未來(lái)三年，英特爾將加快Atom設(shè)計(jì)，2013年將推出22納米內(nèi)核Silvermont。英特爾已經(jīng)在其Medfield處理器中展示了一款32納米內(nèi)核，該處理器用于智能手機(jī)和平板電腦，可能在2012年出貨。 Otellini表示，加快推出新款A(yù)tom設(shè)計(jì)，將形成“非常強(qiáng)大的路線圖”，使該架構(gòu)的摩爾定律進(jìn)程加快一倍。 另外，從22納米節(jié)點(diǎn)開(kāi)始，英特爾正在把筆記本設(shè)計(jì)的重點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)向15W的功率目標(biāo)，低于目前的40W。此外，英特爾將擴(kuò)展其SoC設(shè)計(jì)的范圍，覆蓋從不到1W到將近10W的芯片。 英特爾架構(gòu)部門的總經(jīng)理Dadi Perlmutter表示，重點(diǎn)發(fā)生改變，將給英特爾工程師帶來(lái)一系列微架構(gòu)與電路層面上的復(fù)雜變化。他說(shuō)：“這改變了你做電源管理的方式，以及處理圖形與媒體并行性等問(wèn)題的方式?！? 同時(shí)，Otellini承諾英特爾將在2012年上半年為Medfield推出一款主要智能手機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)。Medfield是Atom的32納米版本。該公司正在從失去諾基亞這個(gè)重要伙伴的打擊中恢復(fù)過(guò)來(lái)。諾基亞最近決定采用Windows Phone 7，放棄了Medfield的方案。 “我們沒(méi)有坐在那里悶悶不樂(lè)，” Otellini表示，“我們與諾基亞一直非常密切地合作，幾乎是獨(dú)家合作，(因此)我們騰出了那些人手，并把那個(gè)(設(shè)計(jì))變成了參考設(shè)計(jì)，正在向一些公司出售。” Perlmutter展示了Medfield智能手機(jī)設(shè)計(jì)和一個(gè)七英寸平板設(shè)計(jì)，運(yùn)行谷歌Android的Gingerbread版本。英特爾正在轉(zhuǎn)向谷歌的Honeycomb，這是x86平板電腦專用的Android，并預(yù)期在年底前推出一款10英寸平板電腦參考設(shè)計(jì)和開(kāi)發(fā)工具。 Perlmutter 表示，Medfield的功率將是毫瓦級(jí)，能夠與目前的40納米智能手機(jī)芯片匹敵。他說(shuō)，該芯片只具有一個(gè)內(nèi)核，而競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手則正在推出雙核芯片，但Atom內(nèi)核將提供比對(duì)手更好的性能。 Otellini表示，英特爾的Atom現(xiàn)在有2000個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)訂單，其中21%是從其它架構(gòu)轉(zhuǎn)化過(guò)來(lái)的，主要是ARM。英特爾展示了一些來(lái)自富士通和Viewsonic等廠商的平板電腦和上網(wǎng)本，采用了英特爾的Pine Trail和Oak Trail處理器。這是Atom的35個(gè)平板電腦解決方案中的一部分。 Otellini還重申了英特爾的一個(gè)長(zhǎng)期承諾：致力于使PC成為更便于消費(fèi)者使用的設(shè)備。他承諾，將在24個(gè)月內(nèi)推出像平板電腦一樣的超薄消費(fèi)PC，運(yùn)行多個(gè)操作系統(tǒng)并支持全天的電池續(xù)航時(shí)間。 Otellini說(shuō)：“這是在重新打造PC，使它更像消費(fèi)電子產(chǎn)品?！? 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：Updated: Intel rewrites Atom road map，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} Updated: Intel rewrites Atom road map Rick Merritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – Intel will quicken the pace at which it rolls out new Atom core designs, drive down the target power of its notebook chips and expand the thermal range of its SoCs. The moves mark its latest effort to drive its x86 chips into smartphones and tablets and counter mounting competition from ARM-based chips. "We decided our road map is inadequate, and we needed to change the center point," said chief executive Paul Otellini in an analyst meeting here, claiming the shift will be as significant as the debut of its Pentium and Centrino designs. Specifically, Intel will roll out a 14nm Atom core called Airmont in 2014, the same time it debuts mainstream PC CPUs using the process technology. Intel's current Atom core is based on a 45nm process, lagging its PC chips by a generation. Over the next three years, Intel will accelerate Atom designs, rolling out a 22nm core called Silvermont in 2013. It is already demonstrating a 32nm core in its Medfield processor geared for smartphones and tablets that could ship in 2012. The acceleration of new Atom designs will create a "very compelling road map [that] doubles the pace of Moore's Law" progress for the architecture, Otellini said. Separately, starting at the 22nm node Intel is shifting the focus of its notebook designs to a 15W power target down from 40W today. In addition, it will broaden the scope of its SoC designs to cover chips that range from less than a Watt to nearly 10W. The changed focus will translate to "a complex set" a host of micro-architecture and circuit level shifts for Intel engineers, said Dadi Perlmutter, general manager of the Intel Architecture group. "It changes the way you do power management, how you handle parallelism in graphics and media and more," he said. Meanwhile Otellini pledged Intel will have in the first half of 2012 a major smartphone design for Medfield, the 32nm version of Atom. The company is recovering from the loss of a key partner in Nokia, which recently decided to embrace Windows Phone 7, abandoning work on Medfield. "We didn’t sit down and mope," said Otellini."We had been working with Nokia very closely almost exclusively, [so] we have freed up those people and turned that [design] into a reference design that we are shopping to a number of companies," he said. Perlmutter showed the Medfield smartphone design and a seven-inch tablet design running the Gingerbread version of Google's Android. The company is porting to the x86 Google's Honeycomb, the tablet version of Android, and expects to have a 10-inch tablet reference design and developers kit ready before the end of the year. Medfield will run at milliwatt power levels that are competitive with today's 40nm smartphone chips, Perlmutter said. The chip sports just a single core at a time when competitors are rolling out dual-core chips, but the Atom core will deliver better performance than the competition, he said. Otellini said Intel now has 2,000 design wins for Atom, 21 percent of them conversions from other architectures, mainly ARM. Intel showed a handful of tablets and netbooks from companies including Fujitsu and Viewsonic using its Pine Trail and Oak Trail processors, part of a group of as many as 35 tablet design wins for Atom. Otellini also renewed a long time Intel commitment to make the PC a more consumer-friendly device. He promised within the next 24 months, tablet-like ultrathin consumer PCs running multiple OSes and supporting all-day battery life. "This is about reinventing the PC, making it more of a consumer electronics device," Otellini said.