Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He\u2019s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he\u2019s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
Rando99 ARM got foolish and greedy, biting the fattest fingers and hands that feed it. Had they simply tried to invade a new chip niche from the start they could have easily slid in and subsumed that one without any pushback. Reply
bit_user Rando99 said: ARM got foolish and greedy, biting the fattest fingers and hands that feed it. Yes and no. If you look at cloud companies that make their own CPUs: Google, Amazon, Microsoft… I'm not sure how many of these guys really want to be in the silicon business. It's just that, before now, ARM only sold IP. So, to get an ARM-based CPU, someone had to take that IP and assemble it together, then get it manufactured and do all the system-level integration and bring-up work. By ARM centralizing that stuff, they can save their customers some time, headaches, and potentially some money. The only two companies who were reselling ARM IP in server CPUs you could buy on the open market were Ampere Computing (which ARM bought) and Nvidia, who pivoted away from using purely ARM IP and are now using their own cores in Vera. Nvidia's CPUs are also more specialized and not primarily aimed at general cloud-computing workloads. Rando99 said: Had they simply tried to invade a new chip niche from the start they could have easily slid in and subsumed that one without any pushback. There's no remaining niche big enough. They're already getting pushed out of the microcontroller & small embedded segment by RISC-V. Competing on AI chips is a very tough battle. So, tell me what niches are out there, with meaningful scale, for them still to exploit? To understand why they did what they did, you have to look at the numbers. If you compare ARM's revenues to that of actual chip companies, ARM is tiny! They tried forcing their customers into more aggressive licensing agreements, but that blew up spectacularly, with the Qualcomm litigation. So, getting into the chip business was pretty much their only remaining option. Two other big factors at play: The costs of chip development are rapidly increasing with transistor count and complexity RISC-V is a looming threat. On the second point, being a chip-maker means that ARM can pivot towards making RISC-V chips, just like anyone else. Their fate no longer remains tied to the dominance of their own ISA, in any particular market. Reply
upsetkiller Ah yes the classic American *fairness* launch probes into foreign companies, when they (rightfully so) develop something they dont want to share Reply
bit_user upsetkiller said: Ah yes the classic American *fairness* launch probes into foreign companies, when they (rightfully so) develop something they dont want to share The issue is that ARM is competing with some of its customers. In this case, the most direct competition is probably with Nvidia's Grace and Vera CPUs. Ever since ARM announced it was getting into the chip business, concerns were raised about a conflict of interest. So, this move really isn't either surprising or inconsistent, for the FTC. Reply
garbilkee "eroded by Arm-based Apple Silicon and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X-series chips". ??? This Apple 'erosion' took place when Apple switched to ARM, but since Apple sells the same number laptop/desktops as it did before, this number isn't increasing each year, so this 'erosion' doesn't exist in any meaningful metrics. And as far as Snapdragon laptops are, they barely moved the needle, and are now stuck in first gear, maybe even neutral. So again, no 'erosion' here either. Reply
bit_user garbilkee said: "eroded by Arm-based Apple Silicon and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X-series chips". ??? This Apple 'erosion' took place when Apple switched to ARM, but since Apple sells the same number laptop/desktops as it did before, this number isn't increasing each year, so this 'erosion' doesn't exist in any meaningful metrics. Why do you assume they had the same sales volume, year-on-year? According to this, their laptops markedly increased in popularity, after they switched to their own ARM-based CPUs: Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/345493/apple-silicon-approaches-amds-laptop-market-share-only-five-years-in The initial ramp from 2020 to 2022 is the transition period, where they phased out their x86 models. Pay attention to the part after that, where there's a discontinuous jump and then another bump in 2025. garbilkee said: And as far as Snapdragon laptops are, they barely moved the needle, and are now stuck in first gear, maybe even neutral. So again, no 'erosion' here either. That's mostly a Windows-on-ARM problem. Once the Nvidia/MediaTek chips start shipping, I expect Windows/ARM popularity to start getting some real traction. This is what Qualcomm always needed – some competition, to help build that market. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/us-ftc-reportedly-launches-antitrust-probe-into-arm-following-its-launch-of-its-own-agi-cpu-regulators-investigate-if-chip-designer-is-restricting-architecture-access-to-rivals#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
- NVIDIA and ServiceNow Partner on New Autonomous AI Agents for Enterprises
- New Microsoft Surface for Business PCs pair Panther Lake chips with as little as 8GB of RAM — 13-inch Surface Laptop goes light on memory but still starts at $1
- Score up to $129 off a new Secretlab gaming chair or desk ahead of the Memorial Day weekend — bundles and sales galore on a whole range of upgrades for your set
- Custom-built passive water-cooled PC relies on convection chimney effect powered by triple-stacked radiators — 9800X3D build with RTX 5080 has no fans, copper,
- AMD rumored to ready budget-friendly Ryzen 7 7700X3D for suffering gamers — chipmaker lowers clocks and price with new Zen 4 X3D CPU
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.