Intel and Arm have signed a memorandum of understanding that finalizes the Emerging Business Initiative, their collaboration to support the startup community. The initiative builds on the April 2023 multi-generation agreement to enable chip designers to build low-power compute system-on-chips (SoCs) on the Intel 18A process. Together, the companies will provide essential intellectual property (IP) and manufacturing support, while also making financial assistance available, to foster innovation and growth for startups developing a range of devices and servers built on Arm-based SoCs and manufactured by Intel Foundry. The Emerging Business Initiative was announced last month at Intel Foundry Direct Connect in San Jose, California.

"Intel Foundry and Arm share the belief that for technology to benefit everyone, the building blocks of innovation must be available to anyone. Startups play a crucial role in bringing the great promise of transformations like AI to reality. The Emerging Business Initiative provides a path for new companies to leverage leading-edge Arm-based SoCs and Intel Foundry's global manufacturing capabilities to make their ideas real," said Stuart Pann, Intel senior vice president and general manager of Foundry Services.AI is transforming every aspect of how people work and live. Just as mobile and cloud computing drove waves of innovation and new businesses, the AI era opens verdant, uncharted territory for new companies to innovate, create new business models and deliver unprecedented value to end users. But AI can only realize its true potential if everyone has access to it, so Intel and Arm are collaborating on the Emerging Business Initiative to open doors for new companies to bring their bold ideas to life.

The Emerging Business Initiative is the latest example of the growing relationship between Intel Foundry and Arm. The companies have worked together for years to help enable the ecosystem. In addition to the April announcement, in August 2023 the companies announced an agreement to accelerate the development and implementation of Arm-based SoCs on the Intel 10 nanometer process.

Rene Haas, chief executive officer of Arm, said, "AI growth depends on giant leaps in compute, efficiency and scalability, and our industry must create on-ramps for the startup community to share in these advancements. Our collaboration with Intel Foundry through the Emerging Business Initiative enables the next generation of innovators to bring their ideas to life and define the next waves of breakthrough innovation."