How Long OLinuXino with Allwinner SOCs will be produced…again :) Now we know the answer – Forever!


A10-OLinuXino-LIME-1

We already blogged twice about this: here and here, but you know what? People keep asking this question again and again.

Lot of serious customers are concerned about the long term availability of Allwinner SOCs before put them into their product.

Until now we didn’t know what to answer, to ask Allwinner (which is 5 years old company) if they will produce their SOC A10 for instance 10 years seems not good idea as in Chinese culture is known that they never will directly say no, and will tell you what you want to hear 🙂

Well now I know already how it works. We got message from Allwinner that A10 processor volumes now are low (for they normal volumes and this is understandable as no one is producing Tablets now with A10 when there is A20 at about same price and with more power). So Allwinner decide to stop keeping A10 on stock.

So that is! A10 processor which manufacturing started in 2011 now in 2014 is retired, normal life cycle of 3 years is what you should expect for Allwinner products.

But here is the catch!

I asked them what is the minimum quantity which Allwinner will be interested to run lot of A10 for us and keep same pricing?
And the answer came today: 50Kpcs and 90 days production time. SO even if the processor is retired and Allwinner do not want to keep it in stock you still can order their processors and they will produce for you!
This means the problem with the longevity program is over!
We can keep producing Allwinner SOC boards as long as there is enough demand for them.

A10-OLinuXino-LIME EUR 30 board will be produced forever and ever as far there is same demand like it have now! We just placed 50K order for A10 processors which will be delivered in March 2015 and we have enough stock at our site to keep the production till then.

 

13 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. Atanas Palavrov
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 13:08:24

    This definitely makes Olimex the most reliable source for the hobbits market (and not only).
    Well done guys, well done!

    Reply

  2. Miki
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 13:21:14

    Great news! 🙂

    Reply

  3. Auguste
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 17:15:40

    Olimex is rely a nice company !

    Reply

  4. Marek
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 18:29:40

    and wht about the A13 ?Is the scenario will be similar for A13-SoM?

    Reply

  5. Lars Poulsen
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 20:38:35

    That sounds great but at some point the technology used in the production is no longer available and then I will bet forever ends.
    So the question is. When is this technology outdated?

    Reply

    • OLIMEX Ltd
      Nov 27, 2014 @ 21:19:45

      Microchip produces their PIC16F84 for decades, no matter that they have better process and technology now
      to the best of my knowledge technology improves not degrades so to produce something obsolete is always possible?

      Reply

  6. Lars Poulsen
    Nov 27, 2014 @ 22:15:15

    Don’t get me wrong but microchip is not the same kind of company as allwinner. Some companies build part of their business on the fact that they have long availability on their parts. Just look at the world of DDR memory.

    It is always possible to produce something obsolete as you say. As long as you are willing to spend the money it costs to keep the production facilities running. Technology does improve but is not always backwards compatible.

    But Allwinner is a big player by now so let’s hope they will keep the parts available. They do make some pretty nice components so I would like to be able to make designs using their chips sometime in the future.

    Reply

  7. Paul
    Dec 02, 2014 @ 02:26:25

    > We just placed 50K order for A10 processors which will be delivered in March 2015 and we have enough stock at our site to keep the production till then.

    That’s brave move, but wouldn’t it be better to invest that money into A33 board? (And sorry if it’s already being done, then Open Hardware business really does run well 😉 ).

    Reply

  8. nelsonlombardo
    Feb 09, 2015 @ 04:10:46

    Reblogged this on Electronic Technician.

    Reply

  9. SK
    Jul 10, 2016 @ 18:52:18

    And that is a lengthy longevity program – 12 years:
    https://espressif.com/en/products/longevity-commitment

    Doesn’t make much sense to me at least.

    Reply

  10. Trackback: Long Term OLinuXino supply – How it works? | olimex
  11. Trackback: » OLIMEX Allwinner A64 (ARM Cortex) CPU based Open Source (free) hardware SBC (single board computer) can run GNU Linux and Android | dwaves.de

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