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Tag: Qualcomm

  • Qualcomm CEO: Apple Will Use Their Own Modems in 2024

    Qualcomm CEO: Apple Will Use Their Own Modems in 2024

    Qualcomm isn’t holding out any hope of continuing as Apple’s primary modem supplier and is expecting to lose that business in 2024.

    Apple and Qualcomm have a contentious relationship, one filled with alternating deals and lawsuits. For the time being, Qualcomm is the primary provider of the modems Apple uses in its iPhones and iPads, but the Cupertino company has been working hard to build its own modems and end reliance on Qualcomm.

    It appears those plans are closer to reality than ever before, according to Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

    “We’re making no plans for 2024, my planning assumption is we’re not providing [Apple] a modem in ’24, but it’s their decision to make,” Amon told CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

    Apple bought Intel’s failed modem division after the latter exited the business, accusing Qualcomm of creating a “a web of anticompetitive conduct designed to allow Qualcomm to coerce customers, tilt the competitive playing field and exclude competitors, all the while shielding itself from legal scrutiny and capturing billions in unlawful gains.”

    While there’s no love lost between Apple and Qualcomm, the latter is sure to feel a financial hit from losing the lucrative iPhone business.

  • Qualcomm: Phone Makers to Unveil iPhone-Style Satellite Tech

    Qualcomm: Phone Makers to Unveil iPhone-Style Satellite Tech

    Qualcomm has said more phone manufacturers plan to roll out satellite connectivity, much like Apple’s latest iPhone.

    The iPhone 14 included a first for Apple’s phone: the ability to send an emergency SOS via satellite. According to PCMag, Qualcomm has revealed that Honor, Motorola, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi plan to use the company’s tech to bring similar features to their own phones.

    Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Satellite relies on Iridium, a leading satellite communications provider. The company also claims its chips will enable emergency SOS support worldwide, as opposed to the iPhone 14, which only offers the ability in the US, Canada, and parts of Europe.

  • Apple Plans to Drop Broadcom & Qualcomm With In-House Chips

    Apple Plans to Drop Broadcom & Qualcomm With In-House Chips

    Apple is continuing with its goal to bring its modems in-house, reportedly planning to replace both Broadcom and Qualcomm.

    Apple has been working to end its dependence on Qualcomm and Broadcom, duplicating the success it’s had replacing Intel chips with its own custom silicon. The company was rumored to be planning on replacing Qualcomm and using its own baseband chip in the 2024 iPhone SE 4, but the latest report indicates Apple has scrapped the iPhone SE 4 altogether.

    According to a new report by Bloomberg, via The Verge, Apple plans to begin using its own in-house chip to replace the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip it currently sources from Broadcom. The company still hopes to also replace Qualcomm’s modem with one of its own.

    It seems Apple is shooting for 2025 as the year it replaces Broadcom, and Qualcomm told The Verge it expects to lose most of Apple’s business in 2025 as well.

    “For Apple product revenue, we now expect to have the vast majority of share of 5G modems for the 2023 iPhone launch, up from our previous 20% assumption. Beyond this, there are no changes to our planning assumption, and we are assuming minimal contribution from Apple product revenues in fiscal ‘25.”

  • Kuo: 2024 Edition of iPhone SE 4 Cancelled, Qualcomm Benefits

    Kuo: 2024 Edition of iPhone SE 4 Cancelled, Qualcomm Benefits

    Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said Apple will not release the iPhone SE 4 in 2024, greatly benefiting Qualcomm in the process.

    The iPhone SE is Apple’s budget iPhone. Apple was expected to release the next version in 2024, with its connectivity powered by Apple’s in-house baseband chip. Apple has been working to build its own cellular chips and end its dependence on Qualcomm, but Kuo says it had concerns that its in-house chips might not be ready to go toe-to-toe with Qualcomm’s offerings. As a result, Apple was expected to use its in-house chips in the budget-level iPhone SE where lower performance would not be as big of an issue.

    According to Kuo, however, Apple cancelling the iPhone SE 4 means that Qualcomm will remain the exclusive provider of baseband chips for the iPhone.

    However, the cancelation of the iPhone SE 4 has significantly increased the chances of Qualcomm remaining the exclusive supplier of baseband chips for the 2H24 new iPhone 16 series, which is better than the market consensus that Qualcomm will start losing iPhone orders in 2024.

    Despite Apple’s desire to rid itself of its dependence on Qualcomm, the company is clearly having trouble achieving its goals.

  • Qualcomm Warns of Weaker Profits on Smartphone Headwinds

    Qualcomm Warns of Weaker Profits on Smartphone Headwinds

    Qualcomm has warned of weaker profits as a result of major headwinds in the broader smartphone industry.

    According to TheStreet, Qualcomm is warning that a slump in smartphone demand, along with COVID lockdowns in China, is impacting its profits. As a result, the company will not deliver the profits analysts were expecting, instead coming in somewhere between $9.2 and $10 billion.

    “What we have seen in the smartphone markets is a combination of the weakness of demand, which is related to basically the macroeconomic headwinds, and the prolonged Covid in China,” CEO Cristiano Amon said in a late-Wednesday investor call.

    Interestingly, Amon said the previous supply chain issues were finally resolved, but “with the macroeconomic uncertainty, you have a drawdown to bring inventory to a different level than it was during the situation of demand constraint. That’s the big issue, really.”

  • Supreme Court Kills Apple’s Attempt to Overturn Qualcomm’s Patents

    Supreme Court Kills Apple’s Attempt to Overturn Qualcomm’s Patents

    The United States Supreme Court has killed Apple’s efforts to overturn Qualcomm’s patents, ending the iPhone maker’s long-standing legal battle.

    Apple relies on Qualcomm for the modems it includes in its iPhones and iPads. The two companies have a years-long history of legal disputes over Qualcomm’s patents. The battle began in 2017 when Qualcomm accused Apple of infringing patents, with the two companies reaching a settlement in 2019.

    As AppleInsider notes, the settlement allowed Apple to continue using Qualcomm’s modems but contained a provision that also allowed Apple to challenge the validity of two of Qualcomm’s patents. Apple has maintained that Qualcomm could, and likely would, sue it again once the current license agreement expires in 2025 or 2027 if the two companies extend the agreement.

    Unfortunately for Apple, the Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in Qualcomm’s favor. Apple appealed the decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also sided with Qualcomm.

    The Supreme Court has now declined to hear Apple’s case, following the Biden Administration urging the court to deny Apple’s appeal.

    Only time will tell if Qualcomm will sue Apple once the current agreement expires, but the entire situation is no doubt lending impetus to Apple’s efforts to design and deploy its own modem stack.

  • Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

    Meta Taps Qualcomm to Manufacture Its VR Chips

    Qualcomm has scored a major contract, with Meta tapping the firm to create its virtual reality (VR) chips.

    Meta is going all-in on the metaverse, running TV ads and working to convince customers and companies that they should buy into its vision of what the metaverse should be. In order to take advantage of the metaverse, however, people still need headsets and equipment — equipment which will be powered by custom chips Qualcomm will be making for the social media giant.

    The two companies have “announced a multi-year agreement to collaborate on a new era of spatial computing powered by Snapdragon extended reality (XR) platforms and technologies for the Meta Quest platform.”

    The new agreement builds on a seven-year history of collaboration between the two companies.

    “By partnering with Meta, we are bringing together two of the world’s metaverse leaders to revolutionize the future of computing for billions of people in the coming years,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Building off our joint leadership in XR, this agreement will allow our companies to deliver best-in-class devices and experiences to transform how we work, play, learn, create and connect in a fully realized metaverse.”

    “We’re working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future roadmap of Quest products,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta. “As we continue to build more advanced capabilities and experiences for virtual and augmented reality, it has become more important to build specialized technologies to power our future VR headsets and other devices. Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor. These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences.”

  • Arm Sues Qualcomm Over Its Nuvia Purchase

    Arm Sues Qualcomm Over Its Nuvia Purchase

    Qualcomm has run afoul of Arm Holdings, with the latter suing the former over the licenses it acquired with its Nuvia purchase.

    Arm is the world’s leading semiconductor design firm. Unlike Intel, AMD, Samsung, and others, Arm does not manufacture any chips. Instead, it designs semiconductors and licenses those designs to other companies, companies that use them to power some of the world’s most popular computing devices.

    Qualcomm has been working to improve the performance of its chips, especially targeting the gap between Apple’s Arm-based chips and its own. Qualcomm purchased Nuvia in an effort to close that gap, but Qualcomm is calling foul, issuing the following statement:

    Arm is filing this claim to protect Arm, our partners, and the unparalleled ecosystem we have built together. Arm and its partners have invested billions of dollars to create industry-leading intellectual property. Because Qualcomm attempted to transfer Nuvia licenses without Arm’s consent, which is a standard restriction under Arm’s license agreements, Nuvia’s licenses terminated in March 2022. Before and after that date, Arm made multiple good faith efforts to seek a resolution. In contrast, Qualcomm has breached the terms of the Arm license agreement by continuing development under the terminated licenses. Arm was left with no choice other than to bring this claim against Qualcomm and Nuvia to protect our IP, our business, and to ensure customers are able to access valid Arm-based products.

    At the heart of the issue is the designs Arm licensed to Nuvia, designs it says required authorization before they were transferred to Qualcomm. As a result, Arm wants a court-ordered injunction that would force Qualcomm to destroy any designs Nuvia developed that are based on Arm IP.

    For its part, Qualcomm says its existing agreement with Arm cover the designs Nuvia licensed.

    “Arm’s complaint ignores the fact that Qualcomm has broad, well-established license rights covering its custom-designed CPU’s, and we are confident those rights will be affirmed,” Ann Chaplin, General Counsel of Qualcomm, said in a statement to Reuters.

    If the court sides with Arm, it could prove a devastating setback to Qualcomm’s plans, especially since the company is one of the leading makers of Arm-based processors for Windows PCs.

  • Intel Scores MediaTek As Foundry Customer

    Intel Scores MediaTek As Foundry Customer

    Intel has scored a major victory, securing Taiwan’s MediaTek as a customer for its foundry services.

    Intel has been working to revitalize its semiconductor business, and providing foundry services to other companies has been a major part of that revitalization. According to Reuters, the company has secured a contract to produce chips for MediaTek, one of the leading semiconductor design firms whose designs are used in a wide range of mobile devices.

    “That’s a pretty big deal for us to engage a customer from Taiwan and them betting on us to grow and try this. And so this is a major anchor customer win,” Randhir Thakur, president of Intel Foundry Services, told Reuters.

    The move is a testament to Intel’s success in establishing its foundry business, especially since MediaTek has a carefully developed reputation for designing some of the highest-quality chips in the business. Some Qualcomm and Samsung chips — both of which were manufactured by Samsung — have struggled with heat issues.

    Read more: Intel Moves Up 2025 Chip Tech a Full Six Months

    In contrast, MediaTek has relied on TSMC, a company whose manufacturing processes are considered more advanced than those of other companies. As a result, MediaTek has not been plagued with the same heat issues as its rivals.

    The fact that the company is willing to invest in Intel’s foundry services is a huge vote of confidence in the latter’s abilities.

    “When you go into a foundry, you’re putting at risk about two years of work,” said TechInsights’ chip economist Dan Hutcheson. “If something happens and the foundry can’t pull it off, you’ve lost that design window in that market window.”

    While the contract is a big win for Intel, MediaTek made clear it will continue with a multi-vendor approach.

    “MediaTek has always adopted a multi-sourcing strategy,” MediaTek said in a statement. “In addition to maintaining close partnership with TSMC in advanced process nodes, this collaboration will enhance MediaTek’s supply for mature process nodes.”

  • Apple’s 5G Modem Efforts ‘May Have Failed’ and Qualcomm Benefits

    Apple’s 5G Modem Efforts ‘May Have Failed’ and Qualcomm Benefits

    Apple may be dealing with an uncharacteristic failure, with its 5G modem development efforts not going according to plans.

    Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted the news early Tuesday afternoon. Kuo is well-respected for his track record of being right far more often than not in his Apple predictions.

    Apple purchased Intel’s 5G modem business after the latter failed to make significant headway against Qualcomm’s market dominance. At the time, it was believed that Apple was hoping to use the purchase to create its own modems for the 2022 iPhones. When that didn’t happen, some believed Apple would make the change in the 2023 lineup.

    Kuo believes Qualcomm is now on target to exceed revenue expectations for the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, thanks to being the iPhone’s sole modem supplier.

    While the company still needs to diversify beyond its reliance on Apple, Kuo says, “by the time Apple succeeds and can replace Qualcomm, Qualcomm’s other new businesses should have grown enough to significantly offset the negative impacts caused by the order loss of iPhone 5G chips.”

  • More Than Three Dozen Companies Form the Metaverse Standards Forum

    More Than Three Dozen Companies Form the Metaverse Standards Forum

    Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Kronos, and 33 other companies have formed the Metaverse Standards Forum to help build an open metaverse.

    Companies are racing to develop the metaverse, the next generation of virtual and augmented worlds. With so many companies working to develop the metaverse, however, some were concerned about the shape it would take, whether it would be a unified space or whether different companies would develop their own version.

    The group makes clear its members believe the metaverse should be built on open standards:

    Multiple industry leaders have stated that the potential of the metaverse will be best realized if it is built on a foundation of open standards.

    “The metaverse will bring together diverse technologies, requiring a constellation of interoperability standards, created and maintained by many standards organizations,” said Neil Trevett, Khronos president. “The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse.”

    The Forum is open to any company, university, or standards organization, free of charge. Interestingly, neither Apple nor Google are founding members of the Forum.

    Founding members include 0xSenses, Academy Software Foundation, Adobe, Alibaba, Autodesk, Avataar, Blackshark.ai, CalConnect, Cesium, Daly Realism, Disguise, the Enosema Foundation, Epic Games, the Express Language Foundation, Huawei, IKEA, John Peddie Research, Khronos, Lamina1, Maxon, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA, OpenAR Cloud, the Open Geospatial Consortium, Otoy, Perey Research and Consulting, Qualcomm Technologies, Ribose, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Spatial Web Foundation, Unity, VerseMaker, Wayfair, the Web3D Consortium, the World Wide Web Consortium, and the XR Association.

  • EU Court Overturns Qualcomm’s $1 Billion Fine

    EU Court Overturns Qualcomm’s $1 Billion Fine

    Qualcomm scored a major win, with an EU court striking down a $1 billion fine against it and criticizing the EU Commission’s original ruling.

    Lead by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, EU antitrust regulators fined Qualcomm $1 billion, alleging the company paid Apple billions of dollars in an effort to shut Intel out of the mobile chip market and ensure the Cupertino company used its chips exclusively. According to Reuters, not only did the EU’s second-highest court, the General Court, overturn the fine, it also criticized how Vestager and the Commission handled their case.

    “A number of procedural irregularities affected Qualcomm’s rights of defence and invalidate the Commission’s analysis of the conduct alleged against Qualcomm,” judges said.

    “The Commission did not provide an analysis which makes it possible to support the findings that the payments concerned had actually reduced Apple’s incentives to switch to Qualcomm’s competitors in order to obtain supplies of LTE chipsets for certain iPad models to be launched in 2014 and 2015,” they said.

    The Commission could still appeal the decision to the EU’s highest court, the EU Court of Justice, but no decision has been made.

    This isn’t the first setback for Vestager. In July 2020, EU courts upheld Apple’s Ireland tax deal, something Vestager had tried to put a stop to. Similarly, as Reuters points out, in January a court overturned a 1.06 billion euro fine against Intel for trying to squeeze AMD out of the market.

    Vestager has made a name for herself as a tough, no-nonsense regulator of Big Tech. Given these setbacks, however, she may have to be more cautious and thorough in how she pursues future cases.

  • Qualcomm Wants Consortium of Rivals to Ensure Arm Remains Independent

    Qualcomm Wants Consortium of Rivals to Ensure Arm Remains Independent

    Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon wants his company to be part of a consortium of rivals that would invest in Arm and ensure its independence.

    Arm Holdings is one of the leading semiconductor design firms, with companies around the globe licensing its designs to serve as the basis for their chips. Apple’s A-series and M1 line of chips are prime examples. The company was recently in talks to be acquired by Nvidia, but that deal fell through over concerns that owning Arm would give Nvidia an unfair advantage. Amon wants to make sure that scenario is never again a possibility.

    SoftBank, Arm’s current owner, is now looking to spin-off Arm as an independent company following the failure of the Nvidia deal. Amon told Financial Times, via Ars Technica, he wants many companies to invest in Arm to ensure no one company could gain an unfair advantage.

    “We’re an interested party in investing,” Amon said in an interview. “It’s a very important asset and it’s an asset which is going to be essential to the development of our industry.”

    “You’d need to have many companies participating so they have a net effect that Arm is independent,” he added.

    Amon sees this strategy as a way for Arm to return to its roots and do business the way it did before SoftBank acquired it.

    “Arm has won everywhere because of the collective investment of the entire ecosystem, from companies like Apple and Qualcomm and many others, and that’s because it was an independent, open architecture that everybody could invest in,” said Amon, referring to the pre-SoftBank period.

    Given Arm’s importance to the industry, it’s a safe bet his sentiments will be echoed by many of Arm’s customers. In fact, Intel has expressed similar interest in a consortium to purchase Arm.

  • Qualcomm Announces $100 Million Snapdragon Metaverse Fund

    Qualcomm Announces $100 Million Snapdragon Metaverse Fund

    Qualcomm is increasing its investment in metaverse development, announcing the $100 million Snapdragon Metaverse Fund.

    The metaverse — the convergence of virtual, augmented, and in-person realty to create an immersive extended reality (XR) experience — is quickly gaining momentum, with a wide range of companies moving to stake their claim. Qualcomm is the latest, announcing its new fund to help further development by supporting XR developers in their efforts.

    Qualcomm will deploy the available capital through both venture investments and a grant program.

    “We deliver the groundbreaking platform technology and experiences that will enable both the consumer and the enterprise to build and engage in the metaverse and allow the physical and digital worlds to be connected. Qualcomm is the ticket to the metaverse,” said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. “Through the Snapdragon Metaverse Fund, we look forward to empowering developers and companies of all sizes as they push boundaries of what’s possible as we enter into this new generation of spatial computing.”

    Developers interested in the program can learn more at qualcomm.com/metaverse-fund. Applications for funding will open in June.

  • Lapsus$ Strikes Again: Hackers Steal Samsung Galaxy Code

    Lapsus$ Strikes Again: Hackers Steal Samsung Galaxy Code

    Hacker group Lapsus$ is in the news again, this time for stealing 190GB of Samsung data and Galaxy code.

    BleepingComputer reported last week that Lapsus$, the same group that stole Nvidia GPU source code, had stolen a treasure trove of Samsung data. The data included “source code for every Trusted Applet (TA) installed in Samsung’s TrustZone environment used for sensitive operations (e.g. hardware cryptography, binary encryption, access control).” The code also included biometric unlock algorithms, bootloader source code, Samsung activation server code, confidential Qualcomm source code, as well as code for authenticating Samsung accounts.

    Samsung has now confirmed the breach, and the theft of the Galaxy source code, in a statement to *Bloomberg.*

    “There was a security breach relating to certain internal company data,” Samsung said. “According to our initial analysis, the breach involves some source code relating to the operation of Galaxy devices, but does not include the personal information of our consumers or employees. Currently, we do not anticipate any impact to our business or customers. We have implemented measures to prevent further such incidents and will continue to serve our customers without disruption.”

    It has not been a good few days for Samsung, with the company accused of throttling games and other apps on a wide array of its devices, including its most recent flagship S22. The company has promised to release a fix, but it’s not clear what long-term repercussions there may be.

    One thing is certain: A breach of this magnitude is only going to add to Samsung’s woes.

  • Samsung’s Exynos Chip Lags Hopelessly Behind Apple’s A-Series

    Samsung’s Exynos Chip Lags Hopelessly Behind Apple’s A-Series

    Samsung’s Exynos chip was lauded as one of the best chances for the Android world to challenge Apple’s performance on smartphones…but that hasn’t happened.

    Apple has long held the performance crown in the smartphone market. While all of the major smartphone makers rely on Arm-based chips, Apple’s long history of semiconductor design has paid dividends, allowing it to dominate performance benchmarks, and real-world performance.

    Samsung’s Exynos 2200, which is one of the options in the company’s flagship Galaxy S22, was thought to be one of the best chances of dethroning Apple, or at least giving it a run for its money. Unlike Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, the Exynos 2200 chip is Samsung’s own design, giving it the ability to control “the whole widget,” much like Apple does.

    Unfortunately, the Exynos 2200 simply doesn’t deliver the goods, according to MacWorld and its sister site, Tech Advisor. In benchmark after benchmark, the Exynos 2200 was only able to seriously challenge the iPhone 11, with its outdated A13 processor. Compared to the more recent A14 and A15, the Exynos 2200 doesn’t even come close.

    Ultimately, with the poor showing of Samsung’s home-grown chip, it seems Google’s Tensor line of chips, may be the best chance of eventually challenging Apple.

  • Microsoft and Qualcomm Collaborating on Chips for AR Glasses

    Microsoft and Qualcomm Collaborating on Chips for AR Glasses

    Microsoft and Qualcomm are collaborating to produce chipsets to power AR glasses for metaverse applications.

    The metaverse refers to the blending of the real and virtual world. Companies from Microsoft to Meta (formerly Facebook) are investing heavily in the metaverse. Even some governments are opening offices in the metaverse.

    Qualcomm and Microsoft will work together to create AR chips to power lightweight, power-efficient glasses for consumer and enterprise use.

    “This collaboration reflects the next step in both companies’ shared commitment to XR and the metaverse,” said Hugo Swart, vice president and general manager of XR, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Qualcomm Technologies’ core XR strategy has always been delivering the most cutting-edge technology, purpose-built XR chipsets and enabling the ecosystem with our software platforms and hardware reference designs. We are thrilled to work with Microsoft to help expand and scale the adoption of AR hardware and software across the entire industry.”

    “Our goal is to inspire and empower others to collectively work to develop the metaverse future – a future that is grounded in trust and innovation,” said Rubén Caballero, corporate vice president Mixed Reality, Microsoft. “With services like Microsoft Mesh, we are committed to delivering the safest and most comprehensive set of capabilities to power metaverses that blend the physical and digital worlds, ultimately delivering a shared sense of presence across devices. We look forward to working with Qualcomm Technologies to help the entire ecosystem unlock the promise of the metaverse.”

  • Intel and Italy Move Forward With Talks for $9 Billion Chip Factory

    Intel and Italy Move Forward With Talks for $9 Billion Chip Factory

    Intel and Italy are moving forward with negotiations to build a $9 billion chip factory.

    Under CEO Pat Gelsinger, Intel has been working to get back to the top of the chip industry. As part of those plans, the company has been investing heavily in new factories. The company hopes to not only step up its own internal production, but also wants to serve as the foundry for other companies, such as Apple, Amazon, and Qualcomm.

    Intel is already spending $20 billion on two new factories in Arizonabut, according to Reuters, the company is looking to build a $9 billion factory in Italy. Reports indicate the talks are intensifying, paving the way for Italy to receiving 10% of the 80 billion euros Intel plans to invest in its European production.

    The move will also help Intel, and the semiconductor industry in general, to lessen its dependence on manufacturing in Asia, potentially helping to insulate the supply chain from another pandemic-type disruption.

  • FTC Sues to Block Nvidia’s Arm Purchase

    FTC Sues to Block Nvidia’s Arm Purchase

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to block Nvidia’s attempt to purchase Arm.

    Arm is one of the world’s most important semiconductor design companies. Unlike Intel or AMD, Arm designs and licenses its semiconductors to clients, who are then responsible for manufacturing them. Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Samsung and others are among Arm’s customers.

    Nvidia announced its plans to purchase Arm in September 2020 for $40 billion, a move that immediately drew criticism throughout the industry. Many worried that Nvidia would keep Arm’s greatest innovations for itself, ending Arm’s long-standing practice of maintaining strict neutrality and licensing its designs to anyone willing to pay.

    The EU has already launched an investigation into the deal, and UK regulators have signaled they may try to block it. Now the FTC has filed a lawsuit to prevent the deal from happening.

    “The FTC is suing to block the largest semiconductor chip merger in history to prevent a chip conglomerate from stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies,” said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Holly Vedova. “Tomorrow’s technologies depend on preserving today’s competitive, cutting-edge chip markets. This proposed deal would distort Arm’s incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia’s rivals. The FTC’s lawsuit should send a strong signal that we will act aggressively to protect our critical infrastructure markets from illegal vertical mergers that have far-reaching and damaging effects on future innovations.”

    Given the headwinds Nvidia is facing, a deal to acquire Arm is looking increasingly unlikely.

  • Qualcomm’s Exclusive Deal to Produce Windows ARM Devices Ending

    Qualcomm’s Exclusive Deal to Produce Windows ARM Devices Ending

    The market for ARM-based Windows PCs is about to become far more diversified, with an exclusive deal between Microsoft and Qualcomm ending.

    Microsoft has been working to bring Windows to ARM devices, thanks in large part to Apple’s own move to the semiconductor architecture. ARM-based chips, such as Apple’s M1 line, offer advantages in energy efficiency and battery life, while still offering performance on par with Intel and AMD.

    Until now, however, Qualcomm has had an exclusive deal with Microsoft to provide SoCs for all Windows ARM devices. According to XDA, that deal is set to expire soon.

    There are a slew of potential benefits to the deal expiring. MediaTek is already planning on launching their own chipset for Windows ARM devices, and it’s a safe bet other manufacturers will follow suit. XDApoints out that the exclusivity deal is likely the reason there has been no official Windows 11 virtualization support for Apple’s M1 architecture as well.

    XDA doesn’t know exactly when the deal will expire, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

  • EU Regulators Open Probe of Nvidia’s Arm Acquisition

    EU Regulators Open Probe of Nvidia’s Arm Acquisition

    Casting further doubt on Nvidia’s attempt to purchase Arm Holdings, EU regulators have opened a formal investigation.

    Nvidia announced in September 2020 that it had reached a deal to acquire Arm Holdings. Arm is one of the leading semiconductor design firms, licensing its designs to companies for use in their products. Some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Google, Qualcomm, Samsung and Nvidia, all use Arm’s designs.

    The deal drew immediate scrutiny, with critics concerned Nvidia would undermine Arm’s traditional way of doing business. The company has always been strictly neutral, licensing its designs to any company willing to pay. Critics were concerned Nvidia might withhold Arm’s best designs for itself, giving it a competitive advantage.

    The UK, where Arm is based, has already launched probes and investigations over competitive and national security concerns, and signaled it may seek to block the deal. According to Reuters, the EU is also getting in on the action, launching their own probe. The EU is evidently not satisfied with the concessions Nvidia has been willing to make for the deal to move forward.

    “Whilst Arm and Nvidia do not directly compete, Arm’s IP is an important input in products competing with those of Nvidia, for example in datacentres, automotive and in Internet of Things,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said.

    “Our analysis shows that the acquisition of Arm by Nvidia could lead to restricted or degraded access to Arm’s IP, with distortive effects in many markets where semiconductors are used,” she continued.

    The Commission will decide by March 15 whether the deal may move forward.