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Samsung Shoots High with Dual-Core Cortex A9 Orion Offering
| Sep 8, 2010 | Mobile Device Silicon
| Analysts: Ron Westfall, Jeff Ogle
Event Summary
September 7, 2010 -- Samsung Electronics introduced its new 1GHz ARM Cortex A9-based dual-core application processor, codenamed Orion, for mobile applications. Orion was designed specifically for high-performance, low-power mobile applications, including tablets, netbooks, and smartphones. It uses Samsung’s 45-nanometer low-power process technology and each core has with its own dedicated data and instruction cache. Embedded GPU, GPS, and standard interfaces for storage and memory are provided. Samples will be available Q4 2010, with mass production scheduled in H1 2011.
Quick Take
Analytical Summary
• Current Perspective: Positive on Samsung’s announcement of its 1GHz ARM Cortex A9-based dual-core application processor, named Orion, because it needed to counter similar announcements from major competitors such as ST-Ericsson, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, and Intel, which have already announced their next-generation dual-core application processor offerings.
• Vendor Importance: High to Samsung, because it needed to complement its Cortex A8-based dual-core Hummingbird processor (i.e., S5PC110) with the Cortex A9-based Orion processor to sharpen its competitive standing against rival dual Cortex A8 offerings and gain a time-to-market edge with Cortex A9-based offerings. The fact that Orion is based upon 45nm process technology and has embedded GPS and GPU support could also provide a competitive advantage in overall product capability and design density differentiation efforts.
• Market Impact: High on the mobile device silicon market, because a 1GHz dual-core application processor offering is becoming table stakes for this market segment. Broadcom, ST-Ericsson, Qualcomm, Intel, and Texas Instruments have each announced similar dual-core devices, with Qualcomm claiming an ARM-based 1.2GHz dual-core capability for smartphones and 1.5GHz dual-core capability for smartbooks/tablets. The general sampling and mass production targets are also close to one another, with samples available in Q4 2010 and production in mid-2011. This should enable retail products with this generation of chip technology to be available before the end of 2011.
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