Intel Corp (INTC)

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Intel SoC FPGA Developers Forum

[Intel is talking about using SoC FPGAs in IoT. Is there any way FPGA technology can be trickled down to mobile SoCs creating a competitive advantage for Intel vs ARM...?]

From my understanding FPGA's are precursor to actual chip. So you can build a soc on fpga. i.e., have cpu/network/sensors etc in gate logic.

Now the question is FPGA's are traditionally expensive. We have to see if Intel managed to reduce the code of FPGA and how. Also IOT is a very broad term from consumer IOT to industrial IOT. I believe Intel will go towards Industrial IOT, as there is more money from total cost of ownership. They may sell IOT(s)/Private cloud as a package to a utility company as an example.

As for ARM vs. Intel, as long as the FPGA is very low power and runs instructions efficiently, FPGA wins. One other advantage of FPGA vs ARM is FPGAs can be updated on the field where as ARM chip has to be replaced