NovaThor

NovaThor was a platform consisting of integrated System on Chips (SoC) and modems for smartphones and tablets developed by ST-Ericsson, a 50/50 joint venture of Ericsson and STMicroelectronics established on February 3, 2009. ST-Ericsson also sold the SoCs (Nova) and the modems (Thor) separately.[1][2] The application processor portion of the system was the successor of the previous Nomadik line from STMicroelectronics.

The Snowball is a single-board computer in the Nano-ITX form factor using the A9500 version of the NovaThor SoC.

History

In early 2009, when development had already begun on a Nomadik SoC called STn8500, it was superseded by the NovaThor family from ST-Ericsson and renamed U8500 as the ST-NXP Wireless division was merged into the ST-Ericsson joint venture.[3]

On November 2, 2011, Nokia announced that NovaThor SoCs will power Nokia's future Windows Phone based smartphones, making a deviation from the standard use of Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs in Windows Phones.[4]

On February 28, 2012, ST-Ericsson announced that they would switch to fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) transistors for upcoming products to reduce power consumption. As an example they stated that the L8540 SoC with FD-SOI transistors would consume 35% less power.[5]

On April 23, 2012, the company announced that development of application processors (such as NovaThor) was to be moved back into STMicroelectronics.[6]

On November 21, 2012, it was announced that ST-Ericsson had joined the Sailfish Alliance hence NovaThor ModAp platform would support Jolla's smartphones and Sailfish OS.[7]

On December 10, 2012, ST-Ericsson announced that STMicroelectronics will leave the joint venture after a transition period making Ericsson the full owner of the Company.[8]

On December 20, 2012, Ericsson announced that they will not buy the remaining 50% stake that STMicroelectronics held. The future for the company therefore remained uncertain.[9]

On January 30, 2013, ST-Ericsson announced as part of its quarterly result that they had shipped 10.7 million U8500 NovaThor units in the fourth quarter of 2012.[10]

On May 28, 2013, ST-Ericsson announced that they would sell the assets and intellectual property rights for its mobile connectivity Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to Intel for $90 million.[11]

On August 5, 2013, Ericsson and STMicroelectronics completed the split up of ST-Ericsson and NovaThor is since a STMicroelectronics product.[12]

List of Nova and NovaThor SoCs
Model NumberSemiconductor technologyCPU Instruction SetCPUGPUMemory TechnologyWireless Radio TechnologiesAvailabilityUtilizing Devices
NovaThor U8500[13] 40 nm[14] ARMv7 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 ARM Mali 400 MP (single core) LP-DDR2 HSPA 2011 Motorola XT760, HTC Desire 400 dual sim[5] Ontim WP8500,[15] Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Samsung Galaxy Beam, Samsung Galaxy S Advance,[16] Samsung Galaxy S III Mini,[17] Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2, Shanda Bambook,[18] Sony Xperia go, Sony Xperia P,[19] Sony Xperia Sola, Sony Xperia U, Yulong Coolpad CP7728[20]
NovaThor U9500[21] 45 nm ARMv7 1 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 ARM Mali 400 MP LP-DDR2 GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA+ (HSDPA 21 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s) 2011
Nova A9500[22] 45 nm ARMv7 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 ARM Mali 400 MP LP-DDR2 None 2011 HTC Sensation Z710T (China),[23] Lenovo LePhone S899t,[24] Snowball[25]
Nova A9540[26] 32 nm[27] ARMv7 1.85 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX 544 Dual-channel LP-DDR2 None Cancelled
NovaThor L9540[28] 32 nm ARMv7 1.85 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX 544 Dual-channel LP-DDR2 LTE FDD/TDD, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, EDGE (external Thor M7400 modem) Cancelled
NovaThor L8540[29] 28 nm ARMv7 1.85 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX 544 @ 500 MHz[30] Dual-channel LP-DDR2 LTE FDD/TDD, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, EDGE (integrated modem) Cancelled
NovaThor L8580 (eQuad

[lower-alpha 1])[31]

 28 nm FD-SOI ARMv7 2.5-3.0 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 PowerVR SGX 544 @600 MHz Dual-channel LP-DDR2 LTE FDD/TDD, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, EDGE (integrated modem) Cancelled

Similar platforms

Notes
  1. With eQuad, the dual-core chip act as two performance cores or, at 0.6 V, two power-saving cores. "e" for electrical.
gollark: GT:NH does that.
gollark: I wonder what you could do to encourage more trading. More spread out ore veins, so you can set up some giant base somewhere to harvest copper and whatnot.
gollark: For example, people don't really do Botania stuff all that often, so you can sell them that sort of equipment.
gollark: Not everyone makes everything in a kitchen sink pack, mind you.
gollark: Not Krist-as-actual-economy.

References
  1. NOVA TM - Highest performance application processors Archived 2012-02-28 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Clarke, Peter (2011-02-16). "ST-Ericsson sets out 'NovaThor' roadmap". EETimes.
  3. "Source tree for STn8500".
  4. Toor, Amar (2011-11-02). "ST-Ericsson's NovaThor to power Nokia's Windows Phone devices, loosens Qualcomm's grip". Engadget. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2012-06-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "ST-Ericsson announces new strategic direction and partnership". 2012-04-23. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2012-12-16.
  7. "ST-Ericsson is ready to support Jolla's Sailfish OS | mobile technology, mobile architecture | ST-Ericsson Technology Blog". Blog.stericsson.com. 2012-11-21. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  8. "Ericsson - A world of communication". June 2020.
  9. "Ericsson köper inte resten av ST-Ericsson".
  10. ST-Ericsson reports fourth quarter 2012 financial results Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2014-01-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "Ericsson and STMicroelectronics complete transaction to split up ST-Ericsson". 2013-08-05. Archived from the original on 2013-08-08. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  13. NovaThor U8500 Product Webpage; ST Ericsson.
  14. http://ftp.dei.uc.pt/pub/linux/kernel/people/linusw/st-ericsson/next-20100812/0027-ARM-ux500-cpu-SoC-version-macros.patch
  15. ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 powers new tablet from Ontim
  16. ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 powers new Samsung GALAXY S Advance
  17. ST-ERICSSON NOVATHOR MODAP POWERS NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S III MINI Archived 2013-01-28 at the Wayback Machine
  18. "ST-Ericsson Continues to Expand Presence in China by Powering First Smartphone from Shanda". Stericsson.com. 2012-06-06. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  19. "Specifications - Sony Smartphones (Global UK English)". Sonymobile.com. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2013-10-09.
  20. "ST-Ericsson Adds China Unicom and Yulong as NovaThor Customer". Stericsson.com. 2012-05-28. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2013-07-10.,
  21. NovaThor U9500 Product Webpage; ST Ericsson. Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine
  22. Changing the game: ST-Ericsson Unveils NovaThor™ Family of Smartphone Platforms Combining its Most Advanced Application Processors with the Latest Generation of Modems Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
  23. Powerful New ST-Ericsson Platform makes Debut in HTC Sensation Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
  24. "Latest smartphone from Lenovo and China Mobile powered by ST-Ericsson". Stericsson.com. 2012-07-10. Archived from the original on 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  25. Snowball is a low power, low cost Single Board Computer based on the ST-Ericsson Nova A9500 processor (Dual Cortex A9 + Mali 400 GPU)
  26. Nova™ A9540 Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  27. "Changing the game: ST-Ericsson Unveils NovaThor™ Family of Smartphone Platforms Combining its Most Advanced Application Processors with the Latest Generation of Modems". Stericsson.com. 2011-02-15. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
  28. NOVATHOR™ L9540 Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
  29. NOVATHOR™ L8540 Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ST-Ericsson announces new highly integrated LTE NovaThor platform Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine
  31. "NOVATHOR™ L8580". Stericsson.com. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
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