Editing PowerPC (section)

=== Breakup of AIM ===
[[File:PowerISA-evolution.svg|thumb|A schematic showing the evolution of the different [[IBM POWER Instruction Set Architecture|POWER]], PowerPC and [[Power ISA|Power]] [[Instruction set architecture|ISAs]]]]

Toward the close of the decade, manufacturing issues began plaguing the AIM alliance in much the same way they did Motorola, which consistently pushed back deployments of new processors for Apple and other vendors: first from Motorola in the 1990s with the PowerPC 7xx and 74xx processors, and IBM with the 64-bit PowerPC 970 processor in 2003. In 2004, Motorola exited the chip manufacturing business by spinning off its semiconductor business as an independent company called [[Freescale Semiconductor]]. Around the same time, IBM exited the 32-bit embedded processor market by selling its line of PowerPC products to [[Applied Micro Circuits Corporation]] (AMCC) and focusing on 64-bit chip designs, while maintaining its commitment of PowerPC CPUs toward game console makers such as [[Nintendo]]'s [[GameCube]], [[Wii]] and [[Wii U]], [[Sony Interactive Entertainment|Sony]]'s [[PlayStation 3]] and [[Microsoft]]'s [[Xbox 360]], of which the latter two both use 64-bit processors. In 2005, Apple announced they would no longer use PowerPC processors in their Apple Macintosh computers, favoring [[Intel]]-produced processors instead, citing the performance limitations of the chip for future personal computer hardware specifically related to heat generation and energy usage, as well as the inability of IBM to move the 970 processor to the 3&nbsp;GHz range. The IBM-Freescale alliance was replaced by an [[open standards]] body called Power.org. Power.org operates under the governance of the IEEE with IBM continuing to use and evolve the PowerPC processor on game consoles and Freescale Semiconductor focusing solely on embedded devices.

IBM continues to develop PowerPC microprocessor cores for use in their [[application-specific integrated circuit]] (ASIC) offerings. Many high volume applications embed PowerPC cores.

The PowerPC specification is now handled by Power.org where IBM, Freescale, and AMCC are members. PowerPC, Cell and POWER processors are now jointly marketed as the [[Power Architecture]]. Power.org released a unified ISA, combining POWER and PowerPC ISAs into the new Power ISA v.2.03 specification and a new reference platform for servers called PAPR (Power Architecture Platform Reference).