Nvidia's Tegra 'Grey' SoC to Pack 3G/4G Capabilities

Nvidia is betting big on the mobile space. The company has launched two generations of mobile chips until now, and the second generation is already one of the most popular SoCs inside dual-core tablet PCs and even smartphones.

The company seems convinced that the mobile space will evolve fast in the coming years, and that quad-core devices will see a lot of traction soon, as dual-core ones do at the moment.

Before the end of the ongoing year, the first tablet PCs to pack Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 chip (codenamed Kal-El) will arrive on the market, followed by smartphones next year, yet it seems that these are only the first steps Nvidia takes on the mobile market.

Soon, more chips from the company will become available for manufacturers to pack inside their devices, including some that will add 3G/4G connectivity into the mix.

Nvidia's chief executive officer Jen-Hsun Huang was the one to unveil such plans at the Citi Global Technology Conference.

Nvidia's Tegra roadmap shows SoCs such as Wayne and Grey, with the latter expected to benefit from the recent purchase of Icera and to pack 3G / 4G connectivity when released next year.

“Wayne is our next-generation [Tegra] processor and along with that we will have a processor called 'Grey', this is where we are going to integrate Tegra processor with Icera modem into a 3G/4G little tiny chip to address the vast majority of the smartphone market,” Jen-Hsun Huang reportedly stated.

For the time being, only few details are available on this chip, and it remains to be seen whether it will be a four-core SoC or only a dual-core one. However, it is known that it will be made using the 28nm manufacturing process, and that it will also pack a GeForce-class programmable graphics core.

With Grey, the Tegra system-on-chip will include the baseband processor as well, based on Icera technology, which will offer Nvidia the possibility to target more affordable smartphone segments with its silicon.