NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/hardware-part1/2661

Internet Message Format | 1996-08-05 | 7.2 KB

Path: news.micron.net!news
From: [e-mail] (Aaron Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: FWD: Fate of 68080
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 96 01:27:14
Organization: Virtual Reality BBS
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: vrb.com


j> >In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail]
j> (Kenneth C. Nilsen) writes:
j> >> I heard some rumours about a 700MHz PowerPC. This has very little
j> backing, but is it true or not? I know there have been difficulties to get
j> more than 300MHz so this sounds not too probable. Anyone?

j>         The possibility of a 700Mhz processor is not impossible.
j> Infact, in theory, using gallium arsenide it could be possible to
j> produce processor reaching 1Ghz.  That's what Cray Research (? or was
j> it another Cray?) were working on before they went under.


 EXPONENTIAL AIMS TO TAKE POWERPC LEAD WITH NEW SUPERFAST CHIPS
 (December 4th 1995) Exponential Technology (PowerPC News 35) claims
 to have a revolutionary BiCMOS design process that will enable it to
 build PowerPC chips far faster than anything that IBM or Motorola
 have in the pipeline. The San Jose, California-based company, backed
 to the tune of $14m by Apple Computer and a collection of venture
 capitalists and private individuals, has negotiated the right to
 build its own PowerPC chip and says that its first product will tape
 out early next year with volume production following in early '97.
 Exponential says its PowerPC processors will offer twice the
 performance of CMOS for the same die size - possibly better. The
 first processor will be a functional equivalent of the 604, and
 though the company is being careful not to quote clock speeds, 'twice
 the performance' would imply a 300MHz-400MHz part. One source outside
 the company was talking about 700MHz parts last month. The large
 majority of the chip's logic circuit will be built from bipolar
 circuitry, with CMOS used for the onboard cache.

 Despite early rumours, the company says that it is not involved in
 building Intel-emulation hardware into its PowerPC clones.

 Traditionally, Bipolar silicon technology (as opposed to CMOS), has
 been the province of mainframe manufacturers - it can switch faster
 than CMOS, with a consequent improvement in processor clock speeds.
 Unfortunately bipolar has the reputation of being power-hungry,
 expensive to manufacture and bulky - CMOS components can be packed
 more closely on the processor. Consequently, even mainframe
 manufacturers have switched to CMOS-based processors as these have
 become faster.

 BiCMOS, as used by Intel in its initial Pentium designs, aims to
 bring the best of both worlds by introducing relatively small amounts
 of bipolar logic into the speed-critical areas of a CMOS processor. .
 However, according to Exponential, this approach has its draw-backs.
 Exponential claims that this conventional bipolar-on- CMOS approach
 results in a "relatively weak form of bipolar logic suitable only for
 building small-to-medium size logic functions and driving long
 wires".

 An alternative approach - placing small amounts of CMOS onto a
 predominantly bipolar chip has languished, mainly because of the
 previously mentioned size and energy draw-backs. This is a shame
 since a fast bipolar chip with onboard CMOS cache and support
 circuitry could be a winner.

 Exponential claims to have cracked the problem by discovering a way
 to design bipolar circuitry roughly equivalent to CMOS in size and
 energy consumption; in particular, it contends, since CMOS elements
 tend to grow in size anyway as clock speeds increase. The company has
 applied for 18 patents covering bipolar design methodologies, tools
 and also chip packaging. So far eight have been granted.

 There is no reason why the process shouldn't be applied to build
 BiCMOS variants of any microprocessor and if the company manages to
 deliver on its promises its technology will be attractive to a number
 of chip makers. However, Exponential CEO, Rick Shriner (formerly VP
 of core technology at Apple) says that there are no plans to license
 the technology out, and anyway "we've still got to prove it". No,
 instead Exponential intends to sell its products on the merchant
 market, in competition with IBM and Motorola at the high end.

 The company does not have its own chip fabrication plant, and is
 unwilling to divulge who will be making them, other than to say that
 the fab will be off-shore and the company isn't a US one. The smart
 money has got to be on Hitachi, which already has some ill-defined
 deal to build PowerPC processors and has also been banging on about
 its innovative BiCMOS fabrication technology. (PowerPC News 29/1335).
 Exponential sales direction Ivonne Valdes, Vice President of Sales
 denies, however that the company is unduly tied to its nameless
 manufacturing partner - Motorola and IBM, among others
 have similar manufacturing capabilities already, she suggests.

 Exactly how IBM and Motorola will react to the competition will be
 interesting to watch; as we went to press they had no comment. Rick
 Shriner says that relations are very good, but acknowledges that if
 he had the time he could "talk all year" about the negotiations
 required to get the rights to build the PowerPC variant. Neither IBM
 nor Motorola are being forthcoming about their thoughts on
 Exponential. The third partner in the PowerPC triumvirate, Apple, is
 obviously delighted at the prospect of competition. It was an
 original investor in the firm when it was founded in the summer of
 1994, and came back for second bite of the cherry in a subsequent
 funding round. "They were looking for someone to put a flag in the
 ground" in terms of PowerPC performance.

 Exponential's financial footing is nearly as hazy as its initial
 product plans. $14m has been raised in two rounds of funding - the
 first round saw Apple accompanied by venture capitalists, Venrock
 Associates and a group of undisclosed private investors. The second
 round saw the two companies joined by Itochu, Innotech, Nazem and Co
 and Woodside fund. One investor is Jean Louis Gassee, ex of Apple and
 now head of Be Inc. But whether Gassee is involved on Be's behalf,
 privately or through the Innotech venture company, was not clear as
 we went to press. To date Exponential says it has spent half of its
 funds and expects to start a second round of funding after tape-out
 of its first product next spring.

 So can they do it? Exponential themselves point out that the
 technology is untested, however the names behind it are
 impressive.The company was founded by George Taylor and Jim Blomgren.
 Taylor was formerly director of experimental architecture at Sun
 Microsystems Laboratories, Blomgren also worked at Sun Labs on ECL
 SPARC processor design and at Chips and Technology on 386/486
 processors. Exponential's Chairman Gordon Campbell was also at Chips
 and Technology - as CEO.
 (c) PowerPC News - free by mailing [e-mail]



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