Marvell launches quad-core ARM CPU

CES 2010: High-powered gaming devices on the way.

Chip maker Marvell has launched a quad-core ARM processor at CES 2010 in Las Vegas.

The chip is based on the same CPU architecture as Marvell's Armada 500 and 600 processor series and uses the ARMv7 architecture.

Clearly Marvell wanted to have something to talk about at CES, but weren't quite ready yet as details are a little thin on the ground, by which we mean there are no speeds and feeds beyond 'gigahertz-plus processing per core' and pricing and availability details are not yet known.

"Introducing our quadcore technology to the world represents a pivotal moment in CPU development for the consumer electronics industry," said Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell.

"Today's media-rich consumer applications are already pushing the limits. By making quadcore capabilities available to our customers we will enable the newest generation of cutting edge devices that consumers will always demand - more horsepower, higher performance, better battery life, and more attractive price points than ever before for mass consumer market adoption."

ARM processors have in the past been limited in performance, but these chips will help Marvell promote the architecture and give it an edge on its competitor Qualcomm, at least until it releases its own version.

While Marvell broadly describes the new chips as 'being designed for customer-specific products such as mass consumer market and high volume gaming applications', they will almost certainly be too power hungry for smartphones, they would be ideal candidates for the increasingly hyped tablet, MID, media player and set-top box market.