NovaThor

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In early 2009, when development had already begun on a Nomadik SoC called STn8500, it was superseded by the NovaThor family from ST-Ericsson and renamed U8500 as the ST-NXP Wireless division was merged into the ST-Ericsson joint venture.{{cite web

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.

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.

On April 23, 2012, the company announced that development of application processors (such as NovaThor) was to be moved back into STMicroelectronics.{{cite web | access-date = 2012-12-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130618125520/http://stericsson.com/press_releases/Strategy_update.jsp | archive-date = 2013-06-18

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On August 5, 2013, Ericsson and STMicroelectronics completed the split up of ST-Ericsson and NovaThor is since a STMicroelectronics product.{{cite web | access-date = 2013-08-05 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130808010339/http://www.ericsson.com/news/1721084 | archive-date = 2013-08-08 | url-status = dead

List of Nova and NovaThor SoCs

Similar platforms

• Atom by Intel
• Apple silicon by Apple
• Exynos by Samsung
• OMAP by Texas Instruments
• Qualcomm Snapdragon
• Tegra by Nvidia

Notes

References

References

1. [http://stericsson.com/products/application_processors.jsp NOVA TM - Highest performance application processors] {{webarchive. link. (2012-02-28)
2. Clarke, Peter. (2011-02-16). "ST-Ericsson sets out 'NovaThor' roadmap".
3. Toor, Amar. (2011-11-02). "ST-Ericsson's NovaThor to power Nokia's Windows Phone devices, loosens Qualcomm's grip". Engadget.
4. "Archived copy".
5. (2012-11-21). "ST-Ericsson is ready to support Jolla's Sailfish OS | mobile technology, mobile architecture | ST-Ericsson Technology Blog". Blog.stericsson.com.
6. (June 2020). "Ericsson - A world of communication".
7. "Ericsson köper inte resten av ST-Ericsson".
8. [http://www.stericsson.com/press_releases/Q42012.jsp ST-Ericsson reports fourth quarter 2012 financial results] {{webarchive. link. (2013-06-18)
9. "ST-Ericsson announces sale of its Connectivity (GNSS) business".
10. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130722010722/http://www.stericsson.com/products/u8500-novathor.jsp NovaThor U8500 Product Webpage; ST Ericsson.]
11. Walleij, Linus. (August 10, 2010). "PATCH 27/33".
12. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130618125422/http://stericsson.com/press_releases/ontim_u8500.jsp ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 powers new tablet from Ontim]
13. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130618100603/http://stericsson.com/press_releases/Samsung_galaxy_U8500.jsp ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8500 powers new Samsung GALAXY S Advance]
14. [http://stericsson.com/press_releases/PR_Samsung_SIIIMini_NovaThor.jsp ST-ERICSSON NOVATHOR MODAP POWERS NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S III MINI ] {{webarchive. link. (2013-01-28)
15. (2012-06-06). "ST-Ericsson Continues to Expand Presence in China by Powering First Smartphone from Shanda". Stericsson.com.
16. "Specifications - Sony Smartphones (Global UK English)". Sonymobile.com.
17. (2012-05-28). "ST-Ericsson Adds China Unicom and Yulong as NovaThor Customer". Stericsson.com.
18. [http://www.stericsson.com/products/u9500-novathor.jsp NovaThor U9500 Product Webpage; ST Ericsson.] {{webarchive. link. (2011-10-02)
19. [http://www.stericsson.com/press_releases/NovaThor.jsp Changing the game: ST-Ericsson Unveils NovaThor™ Family of Smartphone Platforms Combining its Most Advanced Application Processors with the Latest Generation of Modems] {{webarchive. link. (2013-06-18)
20. [http://www.stericsson.com/press_releases/HTC_sensation.jsp Powerful New ST-Ericsson Platform makes Debut in HTC Sensation] {{webarchive. link. (2012-03-25)
21. (2012-07-10). "Latest smartphone from Lenovo and China Mobile powered by ST-Ericsson". Stericsson.com.
22. [http://www.igloocommunity.org/ Snowball is a low power, low cost Single Board Computer based on the ST-Ericsson Nova A9500 processor (Dual Cortex A9 + Mali 400 GPU)]
23. [http://www.stericsson.com/products/a9540-nova.jsp Nova™ A9540] {{webarchive. link. (2012-03-04)
24. (2011-02-15). "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.
25. [http://www.stericsson.com/products/L9540-novathor.jsp NOVATHOR™ L9540] {{webarchive. link. (2012-03-04)
26. [http://www.stericsson.com/products/L8540.jsp NOVATHOR™ L8540] {{webarchive. link. (2012-03-21)
27. [http://www.stericsson.com/press_releases/L8540-novathor.jsp ST-Ericsson announces new highly integrated LTE NovaThor platform] {{webarchive. link. (2013-06-18)
28. "NOVATHOR™ L8580". Stericsson.com.