All Apple computers run on chips based on technology licensed from Arm. And it turns out the licensing fee is surprisingly low. Pennies per device.
Apple is one of Arm’s most important customers, and the two have a relationship that goes back to the early 1990s. That’s turned into a sweet deal for the iPhone-maker.
Nvidia on Monday backed out of a deal to acquire mobile chip designer Arm for $66 billion, according to reports. It would have been the largest ever sale in the semiconductor industry, but regulators including the FTC weren’t keen on it.
SoftBank, the Japanese company that currently owns Arm, still expects to sell it by the end of the year through an initial public offering.
Another key chip designer has left Apple for Microsoft. Mike Filippo, who joined Cupertino in 2019 after a decade with Arm, is the second processor engineer Apple has lost in as many weeks after Jeff Wilcox left to join Intel.
Filippo will reportedly work on server chips for Microsoft’s Azure group, which is said to be pushing forward with its own silicon for cloud computing services.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to block Nvidia from acquiring Arm. It believes the move would “distort Arm’s incentives in chip markets” and allow the combined firm to “unfairly undermine Nvidia’s rivals.”
Nvidia is already one of the largest chip companies in the world, while Arm’s technology is licensed to some of the biggest and most powerful brands, including Apple, Samsung, and Qualcomm.
A version of Windows built to run on Arm processors could eventually come to M1 Mac models, with Qualcomm’s current exclusivity deal with Microsoft “set to expire soon,” according to a new report.
The deal, which wasn’t public knowledge until this week, could explain why there are only a limited number of Windows devices powered by Arm chips — all made by Qualcomm — on the market today. But that’s set to change.
Apple could be planning to stop apps written for Intel chips from working on M1-powered Macs.
New code discovered in the latest macOS Big Sur 11.3 beta suggests Apple might remove Rosetta 2, the software that translates older software to run on the new generation of Macs, at least in some regions.
Apple on Tuesday delivered on its promise to unveil the first Apple Silicon chip before the end of 2020. Its brand-new M1 system-on-chip (SoC) promises industry-leading performance and power efficiency for the fastest, most impressive Macs to date.
The M1 chip is the first 5-nanometer computer chip, packing a whopping 16 billion transistors and the world’s fastest CPU cores. It also features an 8-core GPU that’s “in a class of its own,” Apple says.
A brand-new iMac, powered by Apple Silicon combined with a custom Apple GPU, will land during the second half of 2021, according to a new report.
Codenamed “Lifuka,” the all-in-one is expected to use 5-nanometer chips manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — like those destined for iPhone 12 and other Apple Silicon machines later this year.
One of Apple’s first ARM-powered notebooks could be a 12-inch MacBook with butterfly keyboard, according to one tipster. The entry-level machine could sell for just $849 with 256GB storage as standard.
Other specifications are said to include up to 20 hours of battery life in between charges, up to 16GB of RAM, and a single USB-C port.
Apple reportedly participated in early stage conversations with SoftBank about acquiring its Arm Holdings.
Arm Holdings is the semiconductor conductor whose ARM architecture Apple licenses for everything from its A-series chips for iPhone and iPad to its upcoming Apple Silicon processors for Mac.
