Nvidia To Showcase Tegra 3 Dual-Core Processor In February 2011

Nvidia's Tegra 3

Nvidia (NSDQ:NVDA)'s upcoming Tegra 3 chipset will reportedly be introduced to the public in February at the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona.

According to a report earlier this week from the blog, Hexus, Nvidia's General Manager for Tegra Mike Rayfield said Nvidia's Tegra 3 will follow a yearly product refresh cycle.

"I'm going to come pretty close to my cadence of a launch every year. It will be in production around the same time as my competitors' first dual-cores will," Rayfield told Hexus.

Tegra 3 is rumored to be a quad-core integrated graphics processor pairing ARM's dual-core Cortex A9 architecture with an Nvidia GeForce GPU.

Nvidia had a very eventful CES 2011, launching its Project Denver ARM-based processors and introducingits Tegra 2-based devices, including "superphones" such as LG Optimus 2x, and the first dual-core handheld device -- Motorola (NYSE:MOT)'s Xoom.

Rayfield told Hexus that Nvidia's work with LG and Motorola is paying dividends. "In 25 years I can't remember a show that was this impactful. I've known for a long time that Tegra 2 is a kick-ass part; your phone is now a mobile PC," Rayfield told Hexus.

Tegra 2 includes a Cortex A9 CPU for improved processing performance, an Nvidia GeForce GPU aimed at reducing power consumption, and a 1080 video playback processor for consuming high-definition content.
Tegra 2 is now set to appear in a number of new mobile PC products, including tablets running Google (NSDQ:GOOG)'s Android Honeycomb operating system.

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s decision to support ARM processors running Windows , also on display at CES, came as good news to Nvidia, as it continues to employ ARM's CPU architecture in its chipsets. However, Nvidia has adopted the Android mobile platform to the exclusion of Windows Phone 7.
"The next generation Windows announcement about running on ARM was demonstrated using a Tegra 2," Rayfield said in the Hexus interview. "We have a great relationship with Microsoft, but right now I'm focused on Android."

Rayfield may not have as strong a relationship with Apple (NSDQ:AAPL), given his subtle reference to the Apple iPad in the context of plans for upcoming Tegra-powered Android tablets.

"A UI that's optimized for a tablet is going to be better than a stretched-out phone one," he told Hexus. "A real web experience involves Flash, not just an app for everything. The web doesn't crash." 

By Zewde Yeraswork, CRN