ARM offer advice to Intel for mobile market

According to ARM CEO Warren East, Intel still have a long way to go before dominating the mobile market as their processor designs still demand too much power.

He told Reuters “Unless they can make their processors smaller they will struggle.” He then said that he was happy with the adoption rate of their technology which is powering many of the world's smartphones. “We are not surprised by the speed of the roll-out, As they have more functionality, we are giving more value to our customers, and we expect to be paid more.”

British company ARM sell their processor blueprints to companies like Samsung and Broadcom, who pay them a licensing fee and a royalty for each chip shipped. Their designs power a huge percentage of the world's mobile phones, including the new LG Optimus 3D. They even sell their processors for use in gym equipment and toys.

ARM make a lot of money from their older designs, which find their way into billions of electronic products. This could delay a rise in the average royalty fee rate to 2 percent. “If we are very successful in microcontrollers, it could remain below that level forever.” East said.

Microsoft are also joining the ranks who want to use ARM processors in their designs. He also comments on the Nokia and Microsoft partnership saying “It's good to see them with a strong direction, for us it's a broadly positive thing.”

KitGuru says: Will Intel be able to mount a serious attack on ARM in this low power sector? We wouldn't count them out.

Become a Patron!