Nvidia beats Texas Instruments to first dual-core ARM processor for tablets

The semiconductor corporation Texas Instruments is no stranger to the mobile market; they have been supplying chipsets for cellular phones for many years. Unfortunately, their presence in tablets has fallen behind schedule with their upcoming dual-core OMAP 4 chipset and has allowed Nvidia to gain the upper hand in mobile processor advancements. In a conference call earlier this week, TI spokesperson confirmed that Nvidia’s own dual-core mobile chip, the Tegra 2, had “a couple months, maybe a quarter, lead on our OMAP 4 product.” If not for Nvidia’s aggressive lead, TI would have been the first to release a mobile dual-core ARM processor instead.

 The earlier-to-market Tegra 2 means that Nvidia will have the greater presence in upcoming tablets when compared to TI, such as in the Viewsonic G Tablet, Motorola Atrix, and the promising Motorola Xoom. TI, however, will still be the heart of at least one upcoming tablet, which is the RIM PlayBook, as the tablet is expected to utilize a 1 GHz version of the OMAP 4 processor.

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