We’re Number Two, We Try Harder

We’re Number Two, We Try Harder
by Paul McLellan on 09-19-2015 at 7:00 am

One of the big surprises I got at Synopsys’ ARC conference is that ARC is #2 in terms of share of licensed microprocessor shipments. I think most readers of Semiwiki would know ARM is #1 but would guess that MIPS (now owned by Imagination Technologies) is #2. But you’d be wrong, ARC is over twice as big.

Last week Synopsys… Read More


Intel and eASIC: Marriage or Just Good Friends?

Intel and eASIC: Marriage or Just Good Friends?
by Paul McLellan on 05-14-2015 at 7:00 am

A couple of days ago Intel announced a collaboration with eASIC. Here is the opening paragraph of the press release:Intel Corporation today announced plans to develop integrated products with eASIC Corporation that combine processing performance and customizable hardware to meet the increasing demand for custom compute Read More


New Suite of ARM IP for Mobile

New Suite of ARM IP for Mobile
by Paul McLellan on 02-04-2015 at 7:00 am

ARM had a big press/analyst show at the Epic Roasthouse here in San Francisco this morning. They announced a new portfolio of IP targeted at the next generation mobile experience. There were 4 components to the announcement:

  • A new microprocessor, the Cortex-A72. More details below
  • New CoreLink CCI-500 Cache Coherent Interconnect
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Microprocessors: Will ARM Rule the World?

Microprocessors: Will ARM Rule the World?
by Paul McLellan on 10-30-2014 at 12:00 pm

Last week was the Linley Microprocessor Conference. Not the mobile one, which I find the most interesting since smartphones are such a bit part of what drives process technology these days, this is the one focused on networking and servers. But increasingly both markets are being driven by the same thing, namely mobile data. In … Read More


ARM’s Quarterly Results: Licensing Strong, Royalties Weak, Future is Bright

ARM’s Quarterly Results: Licensing Strong, Royalties Weak, Future is Bright
by Paul McLellan on 07-28-2014 at 8:30 pm

Last week was ARM’s quarterly earnings call. Simon Segars, the CEO, and Tim Score, the CFO, presented from London.


First, the numbers:

  • revenue was up 17% year-on-year in dollar terms to $309.6M, but only 9% in Sterling terms due to exchange rate moves to £187.1
  • profit before tax was $94.2M

  • licensing was up 42% year-on-year
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Atmel Licenses Mali and Security from ARM

Atmel Licenses Mali and Security from ARM
by Paul McLellan on 07-24-2014 at 7:01 am

Atmel (and ARM) announced yesterday that Atmel has licensed a portfolio of ARM IP for devices that require video, image and display capabilities. This portfolio includes Cortex-A7 (a 32-bit core), Mali-V500 (a video accelerator), Mali-DP500 (a display processor) and TrustZone technology (security technology). These can… Read More


Intel Second Quarter Results

Intel Second Quarter Results
by Paul McLellan on 07-16-2014 at 4:03 pm

Intel announced their quarterly results earlier this week. Their mainline microprocessor business is doing well, especially the highest performance segments for servers, datacenters and cloud computing. Broken down by segment the numbers come out like this:

  • PC Client Group revenue of $8.7 billion, up 9 percent sequentially
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Andes Plays an ACE

Andes Plays an ACE
by Paul McLellan on 07-16-2014 at 9:01 am

There is a perception that ARM is the only microprocessor game in town due to their strong position in many markets, especially mobile. In areas where the instruction set shows through, then this is probably true. There is no rush to build smartphones where the application processor is something else. But even in a phone there are… Read More


Processors For Internet of Things

Processors For Internet of Things
by Paul McLellan on 05-06-2014 at 10:58 pm

Tomorrow and Thursday this week is the Internet of Things (IoT) developers conference. It takes place at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara. There are 3 keynotes and 3 CTO viewpoints:

  • Driving Heterogeneous System Architectures Everywhere – Amit Rohatgi, Imagination Technologies
  • Solving the Networking Puzzle: From IOT
Read More

ARM Results, Strong Biceps

ARM Results, Strong Biceps
by Paul McLellan on 04-23-2014 at 10:53 am

ARM announced their Q1 results yesterday. Having just written that Intel lost $1B in mobile, I guess I could have used the title “ARM didn’t lose $1B in mobile.” They made $100M (on revenues of $300M). So let’s start off with what their results actually were and then look at what other things of interest … Read More