没有基带的OMAP能撑多久？TI重新调整AP策略

德州仪器(TI)正计划重新调整其OMAP应用处理器(Application Processor,AP)策略，未来将锁定嵌入式应用，但却减少了智能手机和平板电脑市场的投入──尽管该公司已在这两个领域赢得部份令人瞩目的设计订单──这项宣示出乎许多业界人士的意料。 然而，Forward Concepts公司首席分析师 Will Strauss 并不会对此感到太过惊讶。早在2010年11月，Strauss便笃定市场趋势会导致TI策略大幅转移，指出未来应用处理器将朝着整合基带的方向前进，而TI必须做出决定。 随后，Strauss表示，OMAP当时在3G手机应用处理器出货方面大幅领先，但高通(Qualcomm)也凭借着 Snapdragon 通信处理器紧追在后，高通的组件将应用处理器和蜂窝式调制解调器功能整合在单一芯片上。 Strauss 预测，融合了应用处理器和调制解调器的整合型芯片到2014年将占整体应用处理器出货量的四分之三。

针对不少媒体的误解，德州仪器日前在微博上对退出移动市场一事辟谣
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TI已经全面退出蜂窝式调制解调器业务，仅承诺继续对诺基亚出货。现在，TI不得不做出选择──为了让今后OMAP在智能手机和平板市场能维持竞争力重新跳回蜂窝式调制解调器领域，或是准备改变策略。 Strauss指出，英特尔藉由并购英飞凌(Infineon)的无线芯片部门铺设了重回蜂窝式基带市场的道路；而Nvidia的情况也很类似──Tegra应用处理器看来颇具潜力，但该公司一样没有基带。 “TI和Nvidia这两家公司的规模都足以去并购少数仅存的调制解调器开发商，他们应该这么做，”当时Strauss写道。 Strauss挑出当时最有吸引力的调制解调器制造商Icera Semiconductor。几个月后， Nvidia 以3.67亿美元收购Icera公司。而TI则是在和联发科(MediaTek)与其它对手的价格战之后，厌倦了基带业务，无意再扭转这部份的业务。 接下来，尽管英特尔(Intel)和Nvidia都同意强化基带能力，以做为未来进军智能手机和平板电脑的凭障，但TI选择了不同的道路。 Nvidia现在提供Tegra和Icera基带芯片，并计划明年推出整合在同一芯片上的版本。Strauss认为，英特尔最终将把Atom或下一代芯片 与基带共同整合在单一芯片上，但他表示，至少要等到2014年才有可能。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：大局抵定

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{pagination} 大局抵定 据 Strauss表示，过去一段时间以来，TI内部一直在重新讨论OMAP。他在上周发表的文章中指出，TI嵌入式处理部门资深副总裁Greg Delagi强调，针对这次的策略转向，该公司过去几年来已经陆续转移OMAP的R&D投资来做好准备。他坚称以近几年市场趋势来看，TI并没有被打个“措手不及”。 Delga 所称的市场变化趋势也包括苹果(Apple)和三星(Samsung)在平板电脑领域表现突出，而他们都有自己的应用处理器。这使得整个平板市场只剩下一小块饼给像TI、Qualcomm、Nvidia和英特尔等厂商分食。 然而，许多分析师也替出，这个规模较小的饼实际上也不小，以该公司的R&D投资来看，TI可能得承受每年约9亿美元来自智能手机和平板领域中的OMAP和连接芯片衰退损失。不过，Strauss表示，在缺乏基带情况下，TI在智能手机和平板电脑市场的寿命也不会长久。 Strauss在接受记者采访时指出，“整合基带是必然趋势。” 这绝对不代表着OMAP的终结。Delagi强调，OMAP在180亿美元的嵌入式处理器市场有着更大机会，虽然这个市场很分散，但却有着更多客户。TI还可以利用其强大的模拟实力来强化在嵌入式市场的优势，该公司声称在该市场占有率已达12%，位居第二名。 “这个市场对他们来说发挥空间很大，”Strauss说。“确实，这也是他们唯一要走的路。OMAP是能够获利的产品线。但它不会针对以10亿为出货单位的大量市场。” 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译： Joy Teng 参考英文原文： Why OMAP can't compete in smartphones ，by Dylan McGrath

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{pagination} Why OMAP can't compete in smartphones Dylan McGrath SAN FRANCISCO—News this week that Texas Instruments plans to refocus its successful OMAP applications processor to target embedded applications—all but abandoning future smartphone and tablet sockets, despite some notable design wins—caught many people off guard. But not Will Strauss, principal analyst at Forward Concepts Inc. Back in November 2010, Strauss identified the trend that would lead to TI's strategic shift, and wrote about it in his monthly newsletter—the future of applications processors involved integrated baseband, and TI had a decision to make. Back then, Strauss reported that OMAP was the leader in 3G cell phone apps processor shipments, but that Qualcomm was already nipping at its heels with the Snapdragon communications processor, which offered both an applications processor and cellular modem on the same die. Strauss predicted that combo chips that integrated both apps processor and modem would make up nearly three-quarters of applications processor shipments by 2014. TI had already all but exited the cellular modem business, pledging only to continue shipments to Nokia. Now TI had to make a choice—jump back into cellular modems with both feet in order to remain competitive down the road with OMAP for smartphones and tablets, or prepare to change strategies. Strauss, pointing out that Intel had recently bought its way back into the cellular baseband market by acquiring the wireless chip unit of Infineon, noted that Nvidia was in a similar situation—Nvidia had the promising Tegra apps processor, but no baseband. "Both companies [TI and Nvidia] are big enough to buy one of the few remaining modem houses, should they decide to take that route," Strauss wrote at the time. Strauss singled out Icera Semiconductor as the most attractive modem maker left. Nvidia bought Icera for $367 million a few months later. TI, having tired of the baseband business after being undercut on price by MediaTek and others, had no intention of reversing its field. And the rest is history. While Intel and Nvidia were willing to ante up to add baseband capability as table stakes to get into the game for future smartphone and tablet sockets, TI choose the low road. Nvidia is now offering both Tegra and the Icera baseband chips, and plans to start shipping a version with both integrated on the same die next year. Strauss believes Intel will ultimately put either Atom or a successor on the same die with the baseband, but he suspects it won't happen until at least 2014. A foregone conclusion According to Strauss, the inevitability of re-focusing OMAP has been a foregone conclusion by at least some people within TI for some time. In his remarks on the strategy earlier this week, Greg Delagi, TI's senior vice president for embedded processing, stressed that the company had been shifting R&D investments in OMAP for several years in preparation for this move. He insisted that TI had not been caught "flat-footed" by the market trends. The primary reason for the change cited by Delgai is also relevant. Apple and Samsung are the dominant players in smartphones and tablets, and they make their own applications processors. That leaves a smaller pie for the likes of TI, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel. But as has been pointed out by analysts and others, that smaller pie is not that small, and TI may suffer as its roughly $900 million in annual revenue from OMAP and connectivity chips in smartphones and tablets declines along with its R&D investment. But, according to Strauss, without the baseband capability, TI wasn't going to be able to hang on to the smartphone and tablet sockets it has for much longer. "The clear trend is toward an integrated baseband," Strauss said in an interview this week. This is by no means the end of the line for OMAP. As Delagi stressed, OMAP has a real opportunity to grow share in the $18 billion embedded processor market, where there are many more customers, but smaller volumes. TI can also leverage its strength in analog to improve its position in embedded processing, where the company already claims 12 percent market share and the No. 2 position. "It's a reasonable market for them," Straus said. "It's really they only approach they've got. That [OMAP] can be a profitable product line. It just won't be a 1 billion unit product line."