We are excited to work with Rockchip. With today's announcement we've added yet another derivative to the Intel SoFIA family, and we expect to have them all in market before the middle of 2015. We are moving with velocity to grow Intel's offerings for the growing global tablet market.
- Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO

進擊的巨人？建達出奇蛋，Intel出奇招！

Rockchip除了成為Intel雙核3G、四核4G兩款SoFIA整合晶片的銷售夥伴之外，還將全球首度獲得Intel Atom CPU與數據機IP授權來打造中國（低價？）限定版SoFIA四核3G整合晶片。

　　The original SoFIA roadmap had a dual-core part with integrated 3G shipping in late 2014 as well as a quad-core with LTE by the middle of 2015. For the China market, a dual-core value SoC wasn't going to fly so Intel needed to fill the hole in its roadmap with a quad-core 3G solution. A quad-core 3G part would be offered at a lower price point than the quad-core LTE option, leaving a hole in Intel's roadmap in a very price sensitive market.
　　Intel will be leveraging Rockchip to bring a low cost (entry/value) Intel branded SoC platform for tablets by providing the IP for the SoC while Rockchip will handle the integration of the design itself. By partnering with Rockchip, Intel leverages some of Rockchip's design teams to bring the part to market without Intel incurring additional burden for a fairly low margin SoC. Rockchip was in around 40 million tablets last year, so this gives Intel access to a reasonable TAM as well.

Intel研發人力嬌貴，透過中國低廉研發工資，可快速推出適合中國市場的晶片方案，外加銷售現成的兩款晶片，可謂借力使力，端地是如意算盤。這廂，Rockchip得到Intel數據通信技術的授權相助，將如虎添翼，正式超越Allwinner，或能力博勢如強龍的發哥，形成天龍鬥地虎之局。

　　While the PR surrounding this Intel/Rockchip announcement is somewhat vague, the implications for ARM may be viewed as negative. Rockchip, with 10% share of tablet processors, has significantly grown mobile application processor share during the past few years as the company’s ARM-based chips have benefitted from the boom in the sub-$150 tablet and smartphone markets. The implication from Tuesday’s announcement is that Rockchip is going to also sell Intel-based (e.g. Atom-based) mobile application processors alongside existing ARM-based chips. This relationship with Rockchip represents Intel’s latest attempts to crack into the tablet processor marketplace, an effort that has yielded little results thus far (~6% market share for tablet processors). The quad-core, 3G SoFIA chip to be developed/marketed with Rockchip may be based on Rockchip’s graphics (e.g. ARM Mali) and interconnect cores, and will be in the market in 1H CY15. The new SoFIA chip will be one of three SoFIA chips offered by Intel.
　　The idea is to quickly expand into China and take advantage of Rockchip’s established relationships with tablet makers there. What Rockchip gets out of the relationship is an mobile processor with an integrated baseband, thus supporting Intel’s strategic rationale for maintaining its baseband modem development efforts (again, positive for CEVA) [...]
　　It is hard to imagine how the quad-core, Intel-architected SoFIA processor in question can be price competitive with an ARM-based processor targeted at sub-$150 Android tablet computers. The Intel SoFIA integrated processor must be at least 2.0x the cost of Rockchip’s recently launched quad-core Cortex A12 apps processor, thus bring into focus how much Intel may be willing to subsidize its entry into the tablet market. It is also worth noting that not all Android tablets sold by Rockchip’s customers will require 3G connectivity.
- Gary Mobley of Benchmark Company

雖然Rockchip有可能在此四核3G的SoFIA新成員上改用自家擅長的ARM Mali繪圖核心，只是如此將破壞SoFIA系列的GPU驅動程式一致性，不利吸引第三方軟體開發商。若依此邏輯，Rockchip亦有可能放棄SoFIA現有的代工廠TSMC，改用自家的GloFo！當然，外界依舊關心Intel這回又將用多少銀彈收買Rockchip的支持。

The deal will likely be viewed as curious by the Street, but we would tend to believe Intel is seeing this 40 million tablet goal in 2014 as a no-walk-in-the-park exercise given the sudden nature of the announcement and the more “tactical” nature of the relationship (we see nothing particularly strategic here, as there is no 4G or Intel foundry involvement).
- Hans Mosesmann of Raymond James

劍走偏鋒，招行極端，該是4000萬顆Atom晶片的年度銷售目標讓Intel心急如焚了。







2013年全球平板AP晶片出貨量大約2.5億顆：
Apple×7500萬顆
Samsung×4000萬顆
Allwinner×5000萬顆
Rockchip×4000萬顆
Mediatek×1500萬~2000萬顆
Amlogic×1500萬~2000萬顆
亦即，Rockchip去年在中國製平板AP晶片出貨市占約30%。
- 劉輝, 華強電子產業研究所平板行業分析師

2014年第一季度中國平板AP出貨量為2770萬顆，冠軍Rockchip市占28.9%（季減2.7%），約800萬顆；Mediatek受益於通話平板需求的不斷上升，市佔率達25.3%（季增4.2%），約700萬顆，首超Allwinner的650萬顆、逼近Rockchip。
- Digitimes Research

雖然發哥在2012下半年才進入Android平板市場，但其MT8125獲得品牌平板商的青睞，同時憑藉其在通信方面的技術優勢，在2013年的出貨量迅速飆升至近2000萬顆。現在華強北很多廠家都在集中開發帶有通信功能的平板電腦，而且大部分使用的是聯發科的方案。

面臨無線通訊風潮朝WiFi平板漫延之際，即使是低價王的地頭蛇，也要見風轉舵。

以聯發科為代表的手機晶片廠商是瑞芯微這樣的單純平板晶片廠商頭頂上懸著的劍，而這把劍正在往下掉。
- 潘九堂, 華強電子產業研究所電子行業分析師

我們此前一直沒有帶通信的SoC，而英特爾的英飛凌在通信方面的積累非常深厚，這一次與英特爾的合作能豐富瑞芯微的產品線，雙方將共同為這款產品開拓市場、進行銷售。至於未來如何處理ARM和英特爾兩大巨頭之間的關係？且行且珍惜吧。
- 陳鋒, Rockchip全球副總裁

除了開拓大客戶的直接意義，還有影響ARM陣營戰術佈局，更有試水一種創新商業拓展的戰略思考。在現有基頻晶片競爭格局下，AP公司要想獲得通信技術越來越難。瑞芯微與英特爾合作，終於獲得了基頻技術，得以進入通信領域。
- 顧文軍, iSuppli半導體首席分析師

非常看好兩家合作，能實現優勢互補，未來幾家處理器廠商的格局更好玩了，今年處理器市場還有大變化在後面。
- 孫昌旭,《國際電子商情》《電子工程專輯》《電子系統設計》首席分析師