Arm, the British semiconductor designer, is set to unveil its own custom chip this summer, marking a significant shift in its business model from licensing its designs to other companies.
More than 300 billion chips based on Arm designs have been shipped since the firm was founded in 1990, with almost all the world’s smartphones being based on Arm technology.
The British semiconductor designer Arm is reportedly planning to launch its own chip this year, after landing Meta as one of its first customers. This move represents a major overhaul of the SoftBank-owned group’s business model of licensing its chip blueprints to firms such as Apple and Nvidia.
A Shift in Business Model
Rene Haas, Arm’s chief executive, is set to unveil the first in-house chip as early as this summer, according to a report in the Financial Times citing people familiar with the plans. This development marks a significant change for Arm, which has been licensing its chip designs to other companies for decades.
The launch of Arm’s own chip is one step in a larger plan by SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son to make more money from its own intellectual property by moving into AI chip production and building a vast infrastructure network for artificial intelligence. This initiative, known as Stargate, aims to spend an estimated £400bn building AI infrastructure, with Arm as a key technology partner alongside Microsoft and Nvidia.
Arm’s Chipmaking Project
Arm’s new chip is expected to be a central processing unit (CPU) for servers in large datacentres and customisable for clients including Meta. Production will be outsourced to a manufacturer such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, according to those familiar with the plans. Another deal integral to Arm’s chipmaking project is Softbank’s expected acquisition of Ampere, an Oracle-backed chip designer of Arm-based chips for servers that could be valued at close to $6.5bn (£5.15bn).
An ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) chip is a type of microprocessor designed by ARM Holdings.
It uses reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architecture, which makes it energy-efficient and fast.
ARM chips are widely used in mobile devices, embedded systems, and servers due to their low power consumption and high performance.
They are also used in automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics applications.
Cambridge-headquartered Arm has more than doubled in value to $173bn since it listed on the Nasdaq in 2023, buoyed by investor interest in AI. Meta is the latest big tech company to turn to Arm for its power-efficient server chips instead of Intel and AMD, while Arm’s partnerships with Nvidia and Amazon have driven its rapid growth in the datacentres that power AI assistants from OpenAI, Meta, and Anthropic.
ARM partnerships refer to collaborations between ARM Holdings, a British multinational semiconductor and software design company, and other organizations.
These partnerships aim to develop and implement ARM-based technologies in various industries.
Key partners include chip manufacturers, device makers, and software companies.
Statistics show that over 50% of the world's mobile devices use 'ARM processors'.
Notable partnerships have been established with companies like 'Apple', 'Samsung', and 'Huawei'.
Relevant facts highlight the importance of these collaborations in driving innovation and market adoption.
The launch of Arm’s own chip marks a significant milestone for the company, which has been at the forefront of the semiconductor industry for decades. As Arm continues to evolve and expand its business model, it will be interesting to see how this new direction shapes the future of the industry.
