After acquiring Nuvia, Qualcomm's first proprietary custom CPU architecture since Krait will be launched under the Oryon name. The architecture is to be used first on the compute platform, which is intended for notebooks and desktops. Technical details were not yet an issue at the Snapdragon Summit.
The wait for a new generation of custom CPU cores continues at this year's Snapdragon Summit. Nine years after the Krait 400 CPU in the Snapdragon 800, it's not yet time to unveil a successor. While the developments on the new CPU continue behind the scenes and sampling should be achieved by the end of the year, the in-house exhibition was only a stage for the announcement of the new product name: Oryon.
Qualcomm continues Nuvia developments
Oryon is not a rebrand of the Phoenix cores still developed under Nuvia, but an evolution of what started at Nuvia and has continued since it was acquired by Qualcomm in January 2021, the company said. This indirectly confirmed that it is not a completely new design. However, technical details were still not an issue at the in-house exhibition, so the information that Qualcomm communicated at the Investor Day at the end of last year is still valid. The new CPU will be the benchmark for performance and efficiency, said CEO Cristiano Amon at the time. In addition, the Adreno GPU should be scaled to the level of discrete desktop GPUs.
The compute platforms for notebooks and desktops are to be served first with the new architecture, said Kedar Kondap, SVP and GM for Compute and Gaming, speaking to ComputerBase at the Snapdragon Summit. However, the company reserves the right to make a specific announcement for the next year, when the technology is to celebrate its premiere in several Snapdragon platforms, as explained by Gerard Williams. As part of the one-technology roadmap, Oryon is to be used on all of the company's platforms.
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Gerard Williams announces Oryon
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Qualcomm Oryon CPU coming to Snapdragon in 2023Ecosystem should be built before new hardware
The current flagship Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 uses cores directly from Arm and is used in the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s (test), Microsoft Surface Pro 9 and Project Volterra. Project Volterra is the Windows Dev Kit 2023 and is therefore aimed at developers who want to develop native apps for Windows 11 on Arm. Among other things, the calculator comes with Qualcomm's Neural Processing SDK to develop for the AI capabilities of the Snapdragon chip.
After time for a detailed presentation of the Oryon CPU is not yet mature, the focus is currently on building the ecosystem around Windows for Arm, Snapdragon and Oryon. Native versions of Adobe Fresco and Adobe Reader were promised for the Snapdragon Summit.
No new chip for the in-house fair
Qualcomm did not want to comment on whether another design based on current Arm cores will be launched before the first Snapdragon chip with Oryon cores. Unlike smartphone processors, compute platforms do not run on a one-year cadence. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 was launched in September 2020 and was based on the Snapdragon 8cx from 2019. The all-new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 came out 15 months later. There were no new hardware announcements for notebooks at the current in-house exhibition.
ComputerBase has information on this article from Qualcomm in advance and as part of an event held by the manufacturer on Maui, Hawaii received under NDA. Travel, departure and hotel expenses were borne by Qualcomm. There was no influence on the part of the manufacturer or an obligation to report. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication date.