After spending most of their time outside the limelight, MIPS Technologies marked a very strong week by announcing that the company successfully started the manufacturing of the brand new high-performance, three-way microprocessor chip using 28nm-SLP (Super Low Power) process node at GlobalFoundries Fab 1 in Dresden, Germany.
The chip was a development between MIPS Technologies and eSilicon Corporation, with the expected clock between 1GHz as worst-case scenario, while the optimal clock target is 1.5GHz. Given that the chip is in manufacturing right now, it will take about three months to deliver first chips to customers. Still, bear in mind the 1GHz minimum, 1.5GHz optimal figure.
The week continued with MIPS Technologies making another joint announcement, this time with Chinese manufacturer Aionovo (no relationship to Lenovo). Aionovo debuted NOVO7, world's first android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" tablet for the non-subsidized price of $100, i.e. you can expect that carriers will be offering them for free with subscription.
This tablet is powered by Ingenic Semiconductor JZ4770 SoC, containing a single MIPS32-based processor core operating at 1GHz, paired with Vivante GC860 GPU featuring complete Full HD acceleration (video processing engine).
While this 7" tablet won't be sold out of China until at least spring-to-summer period, the magnitude of this announcement speaks volumes. Our industry sources working at companies that manufacture x86 and ARM-based solutions almost unanimously expressed their concern. If Ice Cream Sandwich ends up working smooth on a tablet for $100, all it takes is a decent CPU upgrade, capacitive touch-screen instead of the ultra-cheap resistive one and voila, a competitor for the current and future ARM and X86 based designs is born.
Read more: MIPS Architecture Crashes ARM, X86 Party: 28nm chips to operate at 1.5GHz, Run Android 4.0 ICS by VR-Zone.com
