Page 34 - HSP Annual Report 2022

The Future Is Built on Arm
A global IP leader that licenses forward-looking technologies to over 600 customers around the world
C.K. Tseng, president Arm Taiwan Ltd.
A Softbank Group Corp. subsidiary headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Arm is a semiconductor IP design company that runs outposts all over the world. Arm provides various processor designs to meet the performance, power, and cost requirements of all kinds of devices. Its business model centers on securing license fees for the licensing of IP to customers, and shipments making use of that IP.
Focus on low power consumption applications to further increase market share
Since its inception three decades ago, Arm has established a massive ecosystem across the globe. Drawing on its signature low power consumption technology, over 99% of the world’s smartphones are based on Arm. Virtually all leading smartphone processor providers apply Arm technology to their chips. In the IoT sector where energy efficiency matters as much, Arm-based embedded devices also have garnered a market share of 65%. As of 2022, more than 250 billion chips made on Arm architecture had been shipped worldwide. While the number of Arm’s customers has exceeded 600, it is estimated that some 70% of the global population have come into contact with products making use of Arm technology.
Arm Taiwan President C.K. Tseng says, Arm remains committed to playing the role of enabler in the IoT, consumer electronics, automotive, and computing infrastructure sectors. That is, it will work closely with customers to identify forthcoming applications and needs, thereby creating a new ecosystem of innovation.
Launch a new business model to meet IoT needs
Instead of focusing only on their own R&D, today’s technology companies need to stay up to
date with nonstop changes taking place in the outside world. Such features as small volumes, fragmentation, and diverse application scenarios pose a challenge to achieving IoT ubiquity. On the other hand, the emerging needs of AIoT have given rise to all sorts of startups.
Arm Flexible Access and Flexible Access for Startups give chip designers the freedom to experiment and test before they invest in Arm technology: These programs provide up-front, no-cost (or low-cost) access to a wide range of Arm IP for early-stage experimentation and development. License fees are only due at the point of tape-out and calculated only on the IP included in the final SoC design. Medium to small-sized chip design companies and startups are thus given significantly more leeway in R&D and financial flexibility. In turn, more development teams are expected to become part of the Arm ecosystem, thereby giving an extra boost to Arm’s market influence.
Create an ecosystem to cater to future needs and applications
Take automotive applications as another example. Software is bound to play a dominant role in defining the functions of future automobiles. Arm, in collaboration with leaders across the automotive supply chain, has taken the lead to launch Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge (SOAFEE), a software architecture and open-source reference implementation, bringing the real-time and safety needs of automotive together with the advantages of a cloud- native approach. To date this initiative has attracted semiconductor suppliers, independent software vendors, system integrators, cloud services providers, and automakers to get on board.
Tseng concludes that Arm is committed to providing customers with technologies and solutions that deliver high performance, low power design, and low total cost of ownership.
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Hsinchu Science Park Annual Report 2022