Amazon goes with Texas Instruments processor for latest Kindle fire
08 Sep 2012
Amazon's decision to use a processor made by Texas Instruments for its newest Kindle Fire tablets has left some investors and experts surprised. They had thought that Nvidia's Tegra 3 chip would power the high-profile device.
At an event in Santa Monica, California on Thursday, Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon, said TI's OMAP 4470 chip was being used in the new, higher-end Kindle Fire.
He showed reporters graphs suggesting the OMAP chip had better bandwidth and computing power than Nvidia's top mobile component.
Some analysts say most people had assumed that Tegra 3 would be the processor in the new device.
Shares of Nvidia pared gains following Amazon's announcement of the tablets. The stock was still up 2.85 per cent at $13.70, keeping in line with the broad gains in tech stocks. TI's shares moved up 3.65 per cent at $29.56.
The first Kindle Fire that arrived on the scene last year, also came with a TI processor, giving TI entry point into Amazon, however, Nvidia's mobile chips had attracted much attention from investors recently, on expectations of more wins for the company.
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