Mike Peterson
Qualcomm believes it can produce a laptop chip that can compete with Apple Silicon thanks to a team of former Apple engineers who now work for the chipmaker.
Current laptop chip manufacturers like Intel and AMD have no silicon that's as energy efficient as Apple's M1, but Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon says that his company could eventually produce a laptop chip good enough to rival Apple's.
The San Diego-based chipmaker has concluded that it needs to produce its own silicon if its customers want to compete with Apple, Amon told Reuters. Qualcomm currently uses ARM for its smartphone chips.
However, earlier in 2021, Qualcomm acquired chip design firm Nuvia, which was founded by a group of former Apple engineers. Qualcomm plans to start producing laptop chips based on Nuvia's technology in 2022.
Nuvia was founded by former Apple engineer Gerard Williams III, who was sued by Apple for allegedly exploiting its own technology and poaching other staffers while still at the company.
Qualcomm is still hedging its bets. If ARM manages to produce a chip better than what it comes up with, Amon says Qualcomm go with that technology.
"We needed to have the leading performance for a battery-powered device," Amon said. "If ARM, which we've had a relationship with for years, eventually develops a CPU that's better than what we can build ourselves, then we always have the option to license from ARM."
Amon, as head of Qualcomm's chip division, spearheaded the $1.4 billion acquisition of Nuvia in 2021. He was appointed Qualcomm's CEO in January.
Qualcomm is still a key Apple supplier, and its modems are used in all iPhone 12 models. The use of Qualcomm chips in iPhones came after a yearslong legal battle between Apple and Qualcomm over patent licensing. The two companies settled on a deal, which included a chip supply agreement, in 2019.
Apple is also said to be developing its own wireless modem technology, perhaps in a bid to eventually cut ties with Qualcomm. The Cupertino tech giant has set up a facility in San Diego — in Qualcomm's backyard — and plans to staff the office with 1,200 workers by 2022.
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44 Comments
I'm sure they can, but the M1 has already been on the market for almost a year, potentially matching it sometime in 2022 puts them at least two years behind Apple's efforts.
And that's IF they manage to match it, and IF they don't hit any obstacles.
They've been catching up to Apple's mobile chips for years, I don't think that's gonna radically change with pc chips.
Apple able to produce first of it's CPU/GPU chip for laptop/desktop with such impressive benchmarks; Apple's 2021 and 2022 processors will even be harder to compete with. Only concern is NVIDIA buying ARM and than competing with others.
Of course they can, given enough time. The trick is to beat Apple in performance per watt for a laptop-grade chip to market. Despite years of trying they seem to be failing further back than catching up. But I wish them the best as this is an area where more competition for the best performance will be good for consumers.
Okay. So what OS are you going to run on these new devices? Android? Chrome OS? An updated version of Microsoft ARM that failed years ago? Without a firm OS and app software plan, Qualcomm's whole plan is half baked.
Apple will have M2 already in the market in 2022, M3 about to launch, and have years of refining its OS and app support.
Last, Apple is about to gut Qualcomm's iPhone business when it launches its own cellular silicon in the next 2-4 years.
Right now - this IS as good as gets for Qualcomm.