FT Claims Arm Engineers Working on Proprietary Chip

[T0@st]

The Financial Times this weekend has published details about an interesting development project that is currently in-the-works at British semiconductor specialist firm Arm Ltd. The article states that several executives in the industry have divulged (anonymously) that Arm's engineering team is designing a proprietary chip - these insider sources opine that this new creation could be one of the company's most advanced undertakings. The SoftBank-owned chipmaker is having a bumper year in terms of financial success and has invested in its future - it is speculated that their own semiconductor design will be showcased as a prototype product to potential new clients - with the main goal being to drum up more business and growth. Parent group SoftBank is likely pushing for maximum profit margins as it prepares Arm for an initial public offering (IPO) this year.

Arm's modus operandi involves partnering up with other chip manufacturers in order to license out its semiconductor intellectual properties. In turn these partners are expected to deal with the overall design and manufacturing processes of chips (plus sales of). Arm has teamed up with foundries TSMC and Samsung in the past to create prototypes for software testing purposes, but not much has been heard about those proofing projects in the following years. In an unusual turn (from certain industry perspectives) from its traditional working methodologies, it seems that Arm is embracing a different approach by producing its own compelling designs, with the hope of demonstrating greater potential to customers. FT's sources have provided evidence that Arm has expanded its operations and that a newly formed "solutions engineering" team is focused on prototyping new silicon for usage in mobile hardware and related devices.



Industry experts have suggested that Arm could emerge as a surprise rival to companies including Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek. These groups happen to be current clients of Arm, and have for a long time licensed (under a neutral agreement) the firm's ARM processor cores - as featured in the vast majority of their own chipset design ranges (e.g Bionix, Snapdragon & Dimensity). The Financial Times states that it approached Arm to comment on the matter, but the Cambridge, UK-based company has declined to make any statement.

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[Nanochip]

Don’t forget ARM and Intel just announced a partnership for ARM to use intel 18A. Is this upcoming proprietary arm chip an intel 18 A chip? Or is it TSMC?

 

[T0@st]

Don’t forget ARM and Intel just announced a partnership for ARM to use intel 18A. Is this upcoming proprietary arm chip an intel 18 A chip? Or is it TSMC?

No word on that, FT indicates that their executive sources have only been given preview material about Arm's own design. No mention of licensed stuff involving Intel, or a current relationship with one of the big foundries.

The new team is alleged to be lead by a former Qualcomm & NXP guy, who was previously involved in designing Snapdragon chipsets.

 

[Denver]

Time for someone to properly show that x86 can be tweaked to serve the mobile market. Intel couldn't pull it off, but I suppose AMD along with the disgruntled Samsung could come up with something brilliant.

I at least believe that this possibility is more efficient than betting on Risc-V.

 

[R0H1T]

The efficiency thing about ARM chips is overblown, try running Mx based iPad or Macs with "turbo" boost. Both Intel & AMD can be super efficient if they're power/clock limited like most of these chips are. They might still lose in overall efficiency to Apple but it won't be to the extent that Apple advertises in their fluff presentations, it's also in large parts due to their entire vertical integration!

 

[Scrizz]

No word on that, FT indicates that their executive sources have only been given preview material about Arm's own design. No mention of licensed stuff involving Intel, or a current relationship with one of the big foundries.

The new team is alleged to be lead by a former Qualcomm & NXP guy, who was previously involved in designing Snapdragon chipsets.

I mean... they have to get it made through a foundry

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

The efficiency thing about ARM chips is overblown, try running Mx based iPad or Macs with "turbo" boost. Both Intel & AMD can be super efficient if they're power/clock limited like most of these chips are. They might still lose in overall efficiency to Apple but it won't be to the extent that Apple advertises in their fluff presentations, it's also in large parts due to their entire vertical integration!

The whole "efficiency" argument was built over the fact that earlier mobile x86 was scaled down from desktop instead of being purpose built for mobile like ARM chips were. The M series shows the limitations of scaling up that mobile first design.

Time for someone to properly show that x86 can be tweaked to serve the mobile market. Intel couldn't pull it off, but I suppose AMD along with the disgruntled Samsung could come up with something brilliant.

Both intel and AMD could do it, they just have to be willing to design a new core around being sub 5w at all times, including boost. No more porting desktop designs to mobile.

I at least believe that this possibility is more efficient than betting on Risc-V.

The benefit of RISC V though is the open source nature. x86 is fundamentally limited to intel and AMD. Samsung is big enough they will eventually want control over the chip.

 

[Denver]

The whole "efficiency" argument was built over the fact that earlier mobile x86 was scaled down from desktop instead of being purpose built for mobile like ARM chips were. The M series shows the limitations of scaling up that mobile first design.


Both intel and AMD could do it, they just have to be willing to design a new core around being sub 5w at all times, including boost. No more porting desktop designs to mobile.

The benefit of RISC V though is the open source nature. x86 is fundamentally limited to intel and AMD. Samsung is big enough they will eventually want control over the chip.

Samsung has already given up on making high-performance custom cores, even though they have a strong ARM base to work with, so I find it difficult for them to focus on something uncertain like risc-v in the short-medium term. I imagine if they have plans to use Risc-V they should start implementing it on gadgets like smartwatches, not smartphones;

 

[jpvalverde85]

I still remember what happened to 3dfx when they got too damn greedy to manufacture their own cards with their chips blocking everyone else (and noticing too late their mistake), they fell flat in their faces to nVidia selling chips to everyone interested. This happens when corporate manages tech. Corporate should manage numbers, the tech path ain't about money 100%, certainly diversifing is a good path as long as they don't close doors behind. Fortunately we are the dawn of Risc-V, if SoftBank screws Arm, we will have some other tech to play with.