What you need to know
- Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon shared that the company will announce the specs of its upcoming Oryon chips at Snapdragon Summit this year.
- Qualcomm has hyped its upcoming Oryon processors as competitors to Apple's M-series chips.
- Oryon processors are based on tech from NUVIA, which the chipmaker acquired in 2021 for $1.4 billion.
- Arm Ltd. is currently suing Qualcomm about the use of NUVIA tech.
Qualcomm has hyped its upcoming Oryon processors for years. It looks like we'll finally learn about the chips' specs in October. Cristiano Amon, the president, and CEO of Qualcomm, discussed the Oryon chips in a recent investor call and specified that the company will announce specs for the processors at Snapdragon Summit 2023. That event runs from October 24-26, 2023, so we'll still have to wait a few months to learn specifics.
Sravan Kundojjala, an analyst who focuses on semiconductors, shared snippets of Amon's remarks. The quotes below are from Bernstein's 39th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference.
> Windows 12 and Qualcomm Oryon processors will not support Arm32 apps
> Stop being ridiculous: Microsoft is NOT building its own processor for Surface
> Qualcomm's Nuvia-based PC chips are showing positive signs, earning design wins
> Arm suing Qualcomm over alleged breach of licensing agreements, calls for destruction of Nuvia designs
"I think NUVIA it's -- we're aspiring to build really the Apple compete platform, I think, for the Windows ecosystem," said Amon.
"So we know what the target is, and I think we're doing a good job. We're going to announce the specs of the chip very soon in our Tech Summit, and hopefully, we'll impress people."
Amon's comments echo sentiments shared by the company previously, that its processors will compete with Apple's silicon. Qualcomm previously shared that its chips had a "significant number of design wins." The chipmaker expects an "inflection point" for Windows on Snapdragon PCs in 2024."
The upcoming NUVIA chips are based on technology from NUVIA, which Qualcomm acquired for $1.4 billion in January 2021. That deal is facing a lawsuit from Arm Ltd. that claims Qualcomm breached license agreements and committed trademark infringement. Amon seems confident that the acquisition will go through despite the lawsuit.
"But look, at the end of the day, we're their largest customer, and they're suing their largest customer," said Qualcomm's CEO. "We have broad rights to the IP. We have an architecture license, which also predates NUVIA, but it's okay. The trial date is set for 2024 after we launch our SoC and we're working through it.
