Qualcomm and MediaTek might be the two biggest names, certainly in terms of volume shipped, when it comes to mobile processors, but that hasn’t stopped South Korean giants Samsung, and now LG from getting involved. Samsung has a long history of designing and manufacturing their own smartphone processors, dating back to the original Galaxy S and Nexus S. Their Exynos line of processors have now become so good that they’ve started to be included in flagship products, with the Exynos 7420 featuring in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 line from this year. LG however, is still looking to grab a footing in the market.
Having enjoyed little success with the LG NUCLUN processor, as featured in the LG G3 Screen, it looks like LG is looking ahead to a newer processor design, and Chipzilla, Intel, might be helping them. According to a report by the Korea Economic Times, Intel and LG have reached an agreement for the former to produce processors using a 14nm FinFET process for the latter. A 14nm process essentially means that the overall size of the CPU chip will be smaller, generate less heat and be more efficient overall. There have been rumors that Taiwan Semiconductor, also known as TSMC, will be manufacturing the upcoming NUCLUN 2 SoC for the South Korean giant, so this rumored Intel chip could be a different model altogether.
LG has been looking to get into the semiconductor game for some time now, with the goal to produce lower-end and budget-minded devices with their own processors to get more out of the devices, and reduce costs. Partnering with Intel to produce a different chip from the Atom line of mobile processors does seem a little strange, but at this late stage we’d expect Intel will take whatever they get where the mobile market is concerned. Business is business, after all. Next year, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 should signal a return to form, and new Exynos and NVIDIA processors should hit the scene as well, making 2016 possibly a more successful year for 64-bit, octa-core CPUs.