On: Apple's Cyclone Microarchitecture Detailed

[chucknelson]

Pretty impressive that Apple is capable of such CPU disruption with just a few small acquisitions. Is PA Semi the main reason for this, or could Apple have been building up a CPU design team for years before that acquisition?

[bryanlarsen → chucknelson]

Is a $270 million acquisition a small acquisition these days? Not to mention the fact that they acquired a team responsible for two large CPU disruptions: DEC Alpha and StrongARM. A third disruption is perhaps not so surprising.

[chucknelson → bryanlarsen]

Just seems like billion is the new million when acquisitions are concerned, but yes, I guess it wasn't that small overall. Did not realize PA Semi was founded by a lead designer at DEC. Thanks for the info, and Wikipedia filled in the rest for me :)

[rch → bryanlarsen]

Didn't some of the Transmeta people end up at PA Semi too?

[ddebernardy → chucknelson]

If memory serves, Cook mentioned that Apple's semiconductor division was larger than Intel during one of the last investor conference calls.

[sliverstorm → ddebernardy]

What? Apple has 80,000 employees. Intel has 105,000. So I doubt any Apple division is larger than Intel, if you catch my drift.

[MrVitaliy → sliverstorm]

I doubt all 105k Intel employees are hardware engineers. Half of them are probably sales.

[Theodores → MrVitaliy]

Meanwhile ARM is just a couple of (thousand) guys in Cambridge, drinking tea and talking about the weather.

[qq66 → MrVitaliy]

52% of Apple employees are in Apple Stores through the retail division.

[sliverstorm → MrVitaliy]

He said 'bigger than Intel', not 'bigger than Intel's same department'