Intel appears to be pawning off old Atom secrets because its latest x86 jewels are not leaving the vault.
Last week we ran a story that Chipzilla had given RosaicLabs access to part of its Atom processor technology. That is rare, since Chipzilla usually treats x86 intellectual property like dragon treasure guarded by lawyers and licensing goblins, so that has left us wondering why.
The agreement involves register-transfer level code, or RTL, which describes processor functions before they are turned into physical silicon. It is expected to receive the sort of design-level material that could let it build custom processors using Chipzilla’s existing architecture.
Atom was built for low-power computing rather than headline-grabbing performance, and they are used in entry-level systems, networking kit, embedded gear and machines where sipping power matters more than winning benchmark willy-waving contests.
That makes the technology useful for efficient systems that do not need much energy or throw out too much heat. It is probably less precious to Chipzilla now that its low-power strategy has shifted toward E-Cores.
Those newer E-Cores use later microarchitectures such as Gracemont, leaving older Atom technology looking less useful.
Chipzilla can let RosaicLabs play with yesterday’s x86 plumbing while keeping its newer processor roadmap locked in the cupboard. The move is unusual because Chipzilla has historically refused to behave like Arm or RISC-V shops that hand out CPU cores for fun and royalties.
TechRadar’s theory is that Chipzilla sharing Atom RTL suggests it may be testing whether older x86 blocks can become a licensing product without weakening its newer chips.
That would give the company a fresh way to squeeze money from technology that no longer sits at the centre of its product plans. Intel’s Tremont is one candidate, since it was among the later Atom microarchitectures before the branding lost ground to Chipzilla’s newer efficiency-core strategy.
Tremont appeared in products such as Elkhart Lake and Jasper Lake, which covered embedded systems, low-power laptops and Chromebooks. Those are hardly glamour markets, but they are precisely where cheap, efficient, semi-custom silicon can make money.
It is starting to look more like Chipzilla placing an x86 chip on a familiar square. The deal suggests Chipzilla still sees value in Atom’s low-power x86 design, but not necessarily inside its own main product line.
RosaicLabs gets a shortcut into custom silicon, Chipzilla keeps its newest toys safe, and Atom gets dragged from the cupboard for one more job.
The real question is not whether Chipzilla has suddenly gone soft on x86 licensing. It is whether this is a tidy way to monetise old IP, help a friendly startup and test a licensing model without handing rivals anything too fresh.
