Nuvia was founded in early 2019 by some former Google and Apple employees. These employees formerly worked on building Apple’s A-series chips and Google mobile hardware. Qualcomm also acquired Nuvia in 2021. While Google is currently doing great with its Tensor chips in Pixel devices, acquiring Nuvia could’ve helped the search giant to add fuel to the fire of competition with Apple, Qualcomm, and ARM. With Nuvia’s expertise in custom ARM silicon, Google could’ve gained a massive advantage over competitors.
Google handed over a valuable advantage to Qualcomm
Tensor is the first Google in-house chip built with massive help from Samsung, and buying Nuvia could’ve reduced Google’s dependence on Korean manufacturers. However, Qualcomm is now enjoying the Nuvia innovations, and it can undoubtedly challenge Apple’s M1 chips. Oryon, a new custom CPU core, is one of the latest Qualcomm products using Nuvia technology. Tthere are doubts about Oryon and its relationship with Nuvia works. However, a Qualcomm spokesperson said, “The creation of our custom CPU was started by Nuvia engineers while employed at Nuvia and, after the acquisition of Nuvia by Qualcomm Technologies, the custom CPU was completed by engineers at Qualcomm Technologies.” Acquiring Nuvia not only allows Qualcomm to use the technologies of this young startup, but the giant chip manufacturer can also benefit from the experiences of John Bruno, Manu Gulati, and Gerard Williams. All three people are among the elites of the semiconductor industry. They have worked in the hardware department of Google and Apple for many years. A Nuvia founder Gerard Williams was the Chief Architect for all Apple CPU and SOC development. Another founder also worked under the “Lead SoC architect” title at Google. He probably had a key role in developing Tensor chips. The Information also reports that Apple has hit roadblocks in developing the next-generation GPU for the A16 Bionic. So Qualcomm is now in an excellent position to challenge both Google and Apple.
