The changing face of the Microprocessor world

While some of the media reported that Acer was considering developing its own x86 processors, it would seem that it will be using Cyrix processors instead. Read more below. In related news, ARM will release specs on its ARM 10 chip at that the Embedded Processor Forum on October 15th. It is expected to run at 500 MIPS, well in excess of StrongArm, raising the question of how ARM will position it with respect to Intel's SA-1500 processors. There should be some interesting competition between the ARM architecture and the low end x86 market in the near future.

A while back, IBM semiconductor could manufacture all of the non-intel x86 clones: AMD, Winchip, and Cyrix. But the tide seems to have turned with AMD now relying on Motorola instead of IBM, and Cyrix accusing IBM of undercutting them on price. I wonder whether this has anything to do with IBM's recent alliance with ST Microelectronics, proud owners of Metaflow, another x86 design house... alliance which should result in production of a system on a chip by the end of this year.