Arm is now a real force in the data center. With all of the “Super 7” running Arm CPUs, and the software industry increasingly recognizing the benefit of porting to Arm, we are at or approaching a significant tipping point in this massive market.
While Arm may be able to beat Qualcomm in court, their lawsuit risks creating a really challenging marketing message, especially at a time when the threat of RISC V looms ever larger. Maybe they win the legal battle, but lose the marketing war.
A recap of our emerging thesis on the changing nature of compute and what that means for semis companies large and small.
There seems to be some momentum for Arm to sell itself to some sort of consortium of major licensees. In theory, this could be a good outcome, but in practice would be very complex.
Nvidia’s Analyst Day demonstrated the company is now the leading force in the data center. They have risen to this crest on the back of some incredible execution, and their rise shows the very powerful wave washing through the market for compute semis。
RISV V’s leading proponent SiFive has some great momentum, but it also faces many obstacles ahead.
Arm is cutting jobs in advance of its IPO – we think their reasons for these cuts are likely misplaced, and probably creates more problems for them in the years ahead.
We believe, with increasing conviction, that the market for IoT chips is not going to go to Arm. But it is not going to go to x86 or Intel either. It is going to go RISC V.
It is now likely that Arm will go public. As a public company they may finally have to face up to the challenges facing them.
If Nvidia cannot buy Arm – the company is probably an IPO candidate, or possibly the target of a consortium of competing buyers with a private equity company providing arms length governance.