TI DaVinci Video Processor Due in Final Product this Summer

TI didn’t identify the customers, but an Archos portable media player was shown in a block diagram with a DaVinci chip at its core. The DaVinci platform, which combines TI’s 600 MHz TMS320C64 DSP with a 300 MHz ARM926 processor, initially will ship as a codec (DM6446) and decoder (DM6443). It likely will appear in products from “tens” of customers, rising to “hundreds” in 2007 as shipments grow to 7-10 million units, said Joseph Rigazio, TI DSP Systems gen. mgr.- catalog DSP & emerging end equipments. TI, which unveiled DaVinci in Sept., in Dec. delivered digital video evaluation modules ($2,495), about 500 of which it has shipped to 200 prospects, Rigazio said. TI’s potential dollar content per product could range to upwards of $60 based on the DSP, which sells for $10-$30 depending on application and distribution channel, company officials said.

Besides processors, DaVinci works with various operating systems, including Montavista’s Linux, Harman International subsidiary QNX’s Neutrino for automotive entertainment. The firm has 13 companies providing component and development tools. They include eInfochips (DSP system integration) and Flextronic’s eMuzed (custom software for multimedia products). Chips include four 10-bit DACs, USB 2.0 interface, 16/32-bit DDR2 controller and compatibility with several flash memory (compactflash, multimedia card, secure digital and smartmedia) and video compression (MPEG-4, H.264, VC1) standards.

The DaVinci platform, designed for digital cameras, will evolve in 2007 into a family of processors supporting wireless and other technologies, officials said. Made using TI’s 90-nanometer process, it’s been sampling since Dec. In some ways, DaVinci technology borrows from OMAP processors, which TI developed for cellphones. OMAP-2 processors also use a 300 MHz ARM processor and image video accelerator technology.

DaVinci is emerging as TI weighs non-cellphone uses for its OMAP processors, Gen. Mgr. Richard Kerslake said. Later this year TI will begin sampling the OMAP-3 processor that boosts clock speed to 1 GHz from 300 MHz and video resolution to 1,024x768 from 800x600. It ups camera performance to 12 megapixels from more than 4 megapixels. OMAP-3 is expected to ramp up to production for 3G cellphones in late 2007 or early 2008, Kerslake said. There’s been “some interest” in using OMAP in non-cellphone products, he said: “It’s an attractive option. But using it as a general purpose processor is of no interest to us. It needs to be a multimedia product that takes advantage of the 3D engine.”

OMAP-3 will be made using a 65-nanometer process and fit Symbion, Microsoft Windows and Linux cellphone operating systems. Overall, 87 million OMAP processors have shipped in 135 separate handsets since the platform’s 2001 launch, TI officials said. TI’s content per cellphone ranges from $2- $20 depending on the application, company officials said.

Sales of 3G cellphones -- a key product for OMAP -- are forecast to hit 90-110 million units this year, up from 50 million last year, and reach about 250 million in 2008, said Kerslake. In 2005, about 700 million cellphones were sold worldwide, TI officials said. TI had $1 billion in 3G- related revenue in 2005 from sale of OMAP processors and baseband modems. Nokia is TI’s largest customer for OMAP processors, though company officials declined to disclose the amount of sales to the cellphone giant.

TI Conference Notebook…

After hiring Las Vegas-based Keystone Marketing last year to detail DLP products at retail, TI is intensifying ties with dealers on its own. “We're working with retailers to understand their view of the marketplace and what their needs are as far as product features, pricing and positioning,” a spokeswoman said. TI, which works with manufacturer detailers to avoid conflict, is developing cross-promotions with dealers in its sponsorship of Nascar. It has a “Digital Reality Zone” trailer to appear at 30 Nascar races in 2006. It will offer product demonstrations in a 60-seat “theater.” Earlier this month, it discounted DLP products 10% at Circuit City on a Nascar stop in Richmond, Va.; in Feb. a cross-promotion with Tweeter was featured during the Daytona 500 in Fla. TI also sponsors the Hall of Fame racing team’s #96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet Monte Carlo, driven by Tony Raines and Terry Labonte. TI is making more use of DLP TV ads, moving to national spots in Fox Nascar shows, an extrapolation on a regional approach it took when commercials first aired in 2004.

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TI built a 1.1-million-sq.-ft. plant in Richardson, Tex., that has a 250,000-sq.-ft. clean room and targets 65- and 45-nanometer production. No date has been set for production to start at the $300 million factory; launch hinges on “market demand,” Technology & Manufacturing Group Senior Vp Kevin Ritchie said on a tour of the facility. TI, which this year began production using the 65-nanometer process, is expected to make one million units with it the 2nd half, Ritchie said. The 45-nanometer process is expected to follow about 2 years later, he said. TI will make samples using the 45-nanometer process in 2007 and begin qualifying wafer suppliers a year later, Ritchie said. Among those signed on as wafer supplier for 65-nanometer are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), United Microelectronics and Chartered Semiconductor. Missing from the 90-nanometer list is wafer maker SMIC, which has yet to qualify for the 65-nanometer process, Ritchie said. As for DLP, TI will continue to use 8” wafers, but expects to finish shifting to a 10.8-micron process from 13.8-micron, by year- end 2007, DLP Products Senior Vp John Van Scoter said. About 50% of DLP chips, including the 0.45” microdisplay, will use the 10.8-micron process by year’s end, he said. TI does outsource testing and assembly of DLP chips to Amkor, but does not plan to do so with microdisplays, since it has internal capacity to make them, officials said. For example, the DLP’s mirror structure consumes only about 10% of the capacity of TI’s DMOS5 chip plant in Tex., Ritchie said.

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Revenue from TI’s Class D power amplifier are “north of” $50 million, up from virtually zero in 2004, Analog Senior Vp Gregg Lowe said. Its customer list now includes Altec Lansing (iMX2 portable XM Radio speakers), Boston Acoustics and Sanyo (HD Radio tabletop and car head units, respectively), Dell (A5501 flat panel speakers) and Logitech (mm50 portable speakers). The amps are a splinter of TI’s mixed-signal ($2.2 billion, flat with a year earlier) and high-performance ($1.7 billion vs. $1.6 billion) analog chip businesses, which posted combined 2005 revenue of $3.9 billion, up from $3.8 billion in 2004, Lowe said. Analog chip sales make up about 40% of TI’s overall semiconductor business, he said. The high-performance analog business (DACs, DSP, etc.) has about 55,000 customers, most buying less than $1 million yearly in chips, Lowe said. The segment includes 15,000 products, he said. In contrast, mixed-signal has hundreds of customers and a narrower range of products, many targeting printers (motor controllers, pen drivers, cartridge heater chips). Among products containing a cross- section of TI chips are DVD camcorders (power management chips, including a strobe IC) and Philips’ Digital Photo Frame (DSP, A/D convertor and logic).

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In July, TI will begin ramping up production of a new residential gateway multimedia processor, targeting cable and IP set-top boxes, Dennis Rauschmayer, gen. mgr.-residential gateway & embedded systems, said. A family of 4-5 multimedia processors will roll out over 6 months, each featuring a 300- 400 MHz general purpose processor, he said. The chips will be available in memory configurations ranging from 500 kb flash/5 MB SDRAM to 8 MB/64 MB, said William Witowsky, chief technical officer in TI’s broadband communications group. Among the ICs will be one capable of VDSL. TI is a major supplier to DSL modems; they account for about 75% of unit revenue, the rest coming from cable, Rauschmayer said. Standards for 802.11n are emerging slowly, but TI has no immediate plans to add the technology. The 802.11n-equipped products will appear first at retail, followed by PCs and then residential gateways about 2 years later, Witowsky said. TI now builds 802.11b/g into residential gateway products, company officials said.