TI, AMD Launch Flash Salvo at Intel Corp

Electronic News, Oct 9, 2000 by Tom Murphy

Texas Instruments Inc. inked a flash memory deal with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) last week that is being seen by some observers as a pre-emptive strike against Intel Corp. and its assault on the strategic wireless handset market.

TI of Dallas and AMD of Sunnyvale, Calif., will work together to incorporate AMD's flash memory chips into TI's cell phone development platform. The announcement comes two weeks after Intel announced its own initiative for a wireless development platform.

TI calls its development program the Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP) and it is based on TI's DSP technology. AMD'S role in OMAP is to use its process technology and packaging techniques to develop flash memory parts that piggyback onto a TI chip. The intention is to provide lower power dissipation, faster memory access and space-saving design for future cellular handsets.

"This agreement is a complimentary partnership between TI, which has DSPs in 60 percent of cell phones on the market, and AMD, which is a leader in flash memory," said Paul Werp, marketing manager for TI's OMAP. "For cell phones being designed for 2.5G and 3G applications, this agreement addresses the needs for battery life, system size and performance."

While AMD is a major flash maker, Intel is far and away the leader in providing flash for the cell phone market, according to Will Strauss, an analyst with Forward Concepts, Tempe, Ariz.

"This seems to be a pre-emptive strike by TI to insure that Intel doesn't take all of its customers in the cellular handset business by going through the flash route," Strauss said.

Intel representatives have stated publicly that the company will use its position as a flash memory provider to gain momentum in the wireless communications market. The company recently announced a new ARM-based microprocessor, the XScale, optimized for low power and high performance. Waiting in the wings is Intel's joint development program with Analog Devices Inc. for a DSP that is expected to debut before the end of the year.

The maneuvering by TI and Intel has set the stage for a battle in what is emerging as the next major computing platform in the post-PC era. Shipments of cell phones are expected to reach 400 million units this year, while PCs, Intel's mainstay, are expected to break just 100 million units. Cell phone shipments are expected to surpass one billion units by 2004, Strauss said. And only a few companies have the critical mass to manufacture enough chips to supply that demand, with TI and Intel being the leading candidates.

Next-generation cell phones are expected to process several new MIPS-intensive types of applications such as video streaming and business transactions, according to a TI spokesman. The OMAP program is intended to develop platforms to accommodate that functionality.