NVIDIA Tegra 3, equipped with 1.5GHz quad-core madness, teased by a familar slide
How aggressive can NVIDIA get? That's the question puzzling our brainboxes right now as we gaze upon the complete version of the slide that let us know about a potential Tegra 2 3D chip over the weekend.
Context & Ripple Effects
This slide tease continues a push NVIDIA began in 2009, when it swapped Intel's Atom out of an HP Mini for its own Tegra silicon in the Franken-Mini demo and staked out a claim on mobile computing beyond graphics. The company's road since then has been bumpy: reports as of April 2010 claimed Tegra 2 suffered serious issues that delayed tablet projects at Notion Ink, ICD, and Compal — though those accounts remain unconfirmed.
First-order effects
- NVIDIA gets to frame the roadmap conversation around quad-core at 1.5GHz while dual-core Tegra 2 devices are barely reaching shelves, pressuring OEMs like Notion Ink and Compal to weigh waiting for next-gen silicon against shipping what they have.
Second-order effects
- Rival mobile chipset vendors are forced to answer with their own multi-core roadmaps, and tablet makers burned by Tegra 2 delays gain leverage to demand firmer delivery commitments before design wins.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile silicon becomes a roadmap-announcement arms race in which vendors pre-announce specs to hold design wins, making launch dates and yield execution — not peak clocks — the deciding competitive factor.
The trend: Mobile SoC vendors are racing up the core-count curve with pre-product roadmap teasers, turning silicon announcements themselves into a competitive weapon.