14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve talked already about Calxeda’s interesting server SoC that uses Cortex A9 cores and provides over ten times the efficiency of a Xeon server in certain tasks.
ARM’s Cortex A15 architecture brings impressive IPC improvements over the A9 and Samsung is using the newer architecture for its future server processors.
Samsung already introduced the Exynos 5250 processor for mobile use some time last year, but the company said that the design was quite scalable and that we might see 2.5 Hz versions of the CPU.
The company is reportedly preparing to release server versions of its Cortex A15 architecture, which means that we will soon see Exynos 5 processors with 64-bit instructions and ECC support and other server-oriented features.
On the other hand, Samsung might also go for a quad-core version that would also bring increased density to any server applications.
The new chips are likely to still be manufactured in the company’s 32 nm technology as Samsung’s own FABs have just enabled mass production on the technology this year.
The Cortex A15 architecture brings serious single threaded performance improvements. Practically, a dual-core A15 processor is just as fast if not even faster than a quad-core A9 design.
Samsung is also planning netbooks and SmartTVs using the new Cortex A15 CPUs as Microsoft’s Windows RT is getting closer to the launch.
One thing is clear, Samsung is the first ARM giant that will go against Intel’s server pie and we believe the Korean company has the means to take a serious bite.
Applied Micro, Calxeda, Marvell, Nvidia and others are also planning to enter the server market with ARM processors, but none of them have the money and power Samsung has.
Marvell will partner with DELL and Calxeda is already working with HP for some time now.