David Bearden heeft op het Microprocessor forum bekend gemaakt dat Motorola zijn G4 Apollo processors gaat produceren op kloksnelheden van 1GHz en hoger. Deze snelheidsverhoging is mogelijk danzij het gebruik van meer pipelines en het gebruiken van de silicon on insulator techniek. Om het verlies van clock voor clock performance, veroorzaakt door meer pipelines, goed te maken heeft de Apollo core de beschikking over een aantal extra execution units en 256KB on die cache geheugen. Het is nog onzeker of Apple deze chip ook daadwerkelijk gaat gebruiken, de vorig jaar aangekondigde 700MHz G4e is bijvoorbeeld nog nergens te vinden:
With the upcoming "Apollo" processor, Motorola's G4 processor family will be able to join the 1-GHz club, David Bearden, senior member of the technical staff at Motorola's Somerset Design Center, told an audience at the Microprocessor Forum taking place this week in San Jose, Calif.
[...] The new processor could prove to be a boon for Apple, the only major PC maker to use G4 chips. Apple fans, however, shouldn't hold their breath. The Apollo is based on the 700-MHz "V'Ger" G4 chip Motorola announced at last year's Microprocessor Forum, Bearden said. That chip has yet to hit the open market or find its way into an Apple system. Apple PCs now top out at 500 MHz. The vast majority of G4 processors are used in networking equipment, Motorola executives have said.
Apple representatives said that the company is always evaluating faster chips from Motorola and IBM, but just because one of the companies announces a faster offering does not mean that Apple will use it.
[...] Cracking the 1-GHz barrier comes as a result of incorporating "silicon on insulator" (SOI) technology to the 700-MHz G4 processor described last year, Bearden said. SOI adds an extra layer of insulation that improves how electrons travel around a processor.