经过多年的整军经武，英特尔公司(Intel)即将瞄准手机市场展开出击。在未来几个星期内，第一批支持英特尔处理器的智能手机将会上市，准备好与采用ARM公司IP架构的手机设备展开一场激烈的市占率争夺战。
英特尔为了这一刻的来临已经花了多年的时间准备了。组件采购业务相关领域将仔细研究其于第二季的财报结果，以确认产品的表现如何，以及该公司是否能够打入这个炙手可热但竞争激烈的领域。尽管采用ARM架构的设备已在手机市场占有主导地位，但随着PC发展达到高峰，带动对于移动设备领域的市场需求攀升，也就不难理解为什英特尔会将未来的下注在这些产品的成功上市。
但可别急着为英特尔睹上你所有的退休金。至少有十年的时间了，该公司一直试着在通讯市场建立其立足点，但却都没法取得多大的成就。最近的几次收购行动，包括从英飞凌科技(Infineon Technologies)取得的业务，都是为了能让英特尔在打入这一市场时带来更佳表现。然而，许多电子产业的厂商们仍犹豫不决，迟疑着是否该拥抱英尔的架构。因为他们可不想再给英特尔造就一个像在PC处理器领域独大一样的垄断局面。
然而，这种顾虑并未考虑到现实的情况。事实上，ARM是不会轻易地被英特尔或任何其它竞争对手撼动的。太多的设备制造商已经在市场上推出了好几代基于ARM架构的产品了，而且这个专注于采用 ARM IP的设计社群不但十分庞大且仍在持续扩展中。而英特尔公司提供的产品却还未经这一市场的验证──这一事实，再加上业界谨慎避免形成另一种垄断的戒心，ARM并不大可能被排除于这一市场之外。
而英特尔仍然是半导体市场中较强大且令人望而生畏的厂商之一。它不仅开发了行动处理器IP，同时也提供了硬件─这将为买家带来极大的吸引力。潜在的客户能够放心地与单一供货商协商供应来源，而不必在一家供货商购买IP后再与其它多家代工厂交涉生产事宜。
这只是使英特尔能在此市场成为有力厂商的部分原因。在英特尔日前的财报会议上，该公司总裁兼CEO Paul Otellini即形容该公司的制造实力以及在形成市场未来的能力之间存在重要关系。
我们致力于长期的研发正显现成效。我们正展开一个重要产品与技术转型的一年，它将对于我们的公司与产业带来非常积极正面的影响。在此强调几个重要的例子。例如，我们正加速导入22nm制程的量产。这项革命性技术采用我们第三代高k金属闸以及业界首创的3D三闸晶体管。
在针对智能手机与 Ultrabook 等诉求低功耗的应用时，采取三闸晶体管技术能使晶体管实现比采用传统平面微缩技术更高两倍的性能。结合了我们的制程技术、制造能力与设计，能够产生一个具有高度影响力的营运模式──这在业界中已越来越少了。这一营运模式让我们能够实现一些别人做不到的事，例如在2014年以前，采用比摩尔定律更快两倍的速度加速推动Atom开发蓝图。
就在整个业界努力地想用较旧世代的技术(32nm制程)进行量产之际，我们 进行了这项更先进的发展模式。我们从十年前就展开对于3D晶体管的研究，因而取得如今的进展并不容易。事实上，这些技术研发变得越来越难实现，但我们持续领先业界其它厂商，并为我们的产品带来功耗、性能与成本方面的优势。
在半导体市场上很少有公司能提出这样一种令人慑服的论述。我将在后续的文章中讨论更多有关英特尔正为手机、PC与服务器OEM开发产品的相关报导。这将能有助于我们了解为什么这家公司能长久在半导体市场中稳居龙头地位，以及为什么ARM将在一段时间内维持其于无线手机领域的主导地位，但最终也将失去一些市占率。
本文下一页：英特尔智能手机 印度先上市
相关阅读：
• 2011年基带芯片市场排名，英特尔飞上枝头
• 2011全球半导体营收排名，高通增长最强劲，Intel仍第一
• AMD请三思，MIPS真是你需要的吗？JV1esmc
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英特尔智能手机 印度先上市
内含英特尔Atom处理器的第一部智能手机，稍早前已经在印度上市。
这款型号XOLO X900的手机是由英特尔与印度手机公司 Lava International Ltd., 合作推出，4/23起上架销售，零售价大约为22,000卢比(约445美元)。
今年二月，英特尔在巴塞罗那初发表这款手机时，曾说明该手机配备单核心1.6GHz Atom Z2460处理器，搭载4.03英吋显示器、1GB RAM、带闪光灯的8百万画素后置摄影镜头，以及16GB的内部存储器。
该手机采用 Android 2.3 操作系统(Gingerbread)，但显然有计划很快地透过空中接口经由软件升级到 Android 的 Ice Cream Sandwich 版本。
JV1esmc
英特尔声称，该手机采单电池供电，可连续五小时以3G联机浏览网络，音乐播放时间长达45小时，通话时间达8小时。
Lava指望Atom能让他们在广大的印度行动市场中展现更多差异化特质，并计划透过Croma在印度销售。
编译：Susan Hong
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Intel Set to Test ARM Resilience in Smartphones；Intel smartphone launched in India，by Bolaji Ojo / Sylvie Barak
相关阅读：
• 2011年基带芯片市场排名，英特尔飞上枝头
• 2011全球半导体营收排名，高通增长最强劲，Intel仍第一
• AMD请三思，MIPS真是你需要的吗？JV1esmc
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Intel Set to Test ARM Resilience in Smartphones
Bolaji Ojo
After years of getting its guns and ammunition together, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) is about to start shooting in the mobile handset market. Within weeks, the first set of smartphones sporting Intel processors will roll out, setting the stage for an explosive tussle for marketshare with devices using IP from ARM Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARMHY; London: ARM).
Intel has spent years preparing for this moment. Many in the component procurement business will be poring over its second-quarter results to see how well the products perform and whether the company can crack the hot but intensely competitive sector. ARM-licensed devices have dominated the segment, but with demand soaring in the mobile equipment space as the PC end is peaking, it is understandable why Intel is betting so much of its future on a successful debut.
Don't bet your entire retirement fund on Intel yet. The company has been trying for at least a decade to establish a beachhead in the communications market without much success. Recent acquisitions, including a business bought from Infineon Technologies AG (NYSE/Frankfurt: IFX), have positioned Intel for better performance this time around. Nevertheless, many electronics companies are hesitant to embrace Intel. They don't want to give it a monopoly similar to the one it has in the PC microprocessor sector.
However, this concern isn't grounded in reality. ARM isn't going to be dislodged easily (if at all) by Intel or any other competitor. Too many equipment makers have multiple generations of ARM-based products in the market already, and the design community focused on IP offered by the British company is huge and growing. Intel's offerings are untested in the sector. That fact, combined with industry wariness about fostering another monopoly, will make it unlikely for ARM to be edged out of the market.
Yet Intel remains one of the more formidable and fearsome players in the semiconductor market. Not only has it developed the IP for mobile processors, but it also can supply the hardware -- a combination that will give it tremendous appeal with purchasers. Potential customers can be assured they can negotiate supply with a single provider, rather than shopping for the IP at one provider and then engaging with foundries for production.
That's part of what makes Intel a forceful player in this market. During a conference call yesterday on the company's latest results, Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, described the link between its manufacturing prowess and its ability to shape the market's future:
Our commitment to long-term research and development is paying off. We are beginning a year of major product and technology transitions that will have a very positive impact on our company and the industry. I'd like to highlight a few examples. We are ramping our 22-nanometer manufacturing process into high volume. This revolutionary technology uses our third-generation, high-k metal gate and the industry's first 3D Tri-Gate Transistors.
The move to Tri-Gate Transistors delivers roughly twice the improvement in transistor performance over conventional planar scaling when applied to low-power applications like smartphones and Ultrabooks. We combine our process technology, manufacturing and design to produce a highly leveraged business model that is becoming increasingly rare in our industry. That model allows us to do things others can't, like advancing our Atom roadmap at twice the rate of Moore's Law through 2014.
We're doing this at a time when the rest of the industry is struggling to ramp older technologies that lag our prior-generation, 32-nanometer process. Our research on 3D transistors began over 10 years ago, and advancements like this don't come easily. In fact, they're getting harder and harder to achieve, and our lead over the rest of the industry continues to grow, giving us product advantages in power, performance and cost.
Very few companies in the semiconductor market can offer such a compelling argument. In a separate blog, I will write more about the slate of products Intel is developing for handset, PC, and server OEMs. They can help us understand how this company has defended its position in the semiconductor market for so long and why ARM will eventually lose some of its marketshare in the wireless handset sector but will retain its leading position for a while.
Intel smartphone launched in India
Sylvie Barak
SAN FRANCISCO--The first smartphone with Intel Corp.’s Atom inside has launched in India.
The XOLO X900, born of a partnership between Intel and Indian mobile handset firm Lava International Ltd., will be on Indian shelves from April 23 for a street price of approximately INR 22000 ($445).
The phone, announced in Barcelona back in February, sports a single core 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor along with a 4.03 inch display, 1GB of RAM, 8MP rear camera with flash, 1.3 MP front camera and 16GB of internal memory.
It runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but there are apparently plans for an over-the -air software upgrade to Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich “soon.”
Intel claims the phone can get up to five hours of 3G browsing, 45 hours of audio and eight hours of talk time on a single battery charge, as well as take up to 10 pictures a second.
Lava is counting on Atom to provide it with a differentiation factor in the large Indian mobile market, and plans to distribute the phone in partnership with Croma, an Indian chain of electronics mega stores.
责编：Quentin
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