ARM could turn the chip world upside down
The ongoing legal process between Qualcomm and ARM has revealed some details. Starting in 2025, ARM licenses will no longer be hybridizable. In other words, Adreno graphics unit or MediaTek neural processing engine will not be integrated next to the ARM processor. Designers who want ARM will have to choose ARM architectures as neural unit, graphics unit, image processing unit, signal unit.
This new licensing model, which is also the source of the legal process, means monopoly for ARM. Because until now, designers have developed and used many different solutions such as Qualcomm Adreno, MediaTek NeuroPilot, Qualcomm Hexagon.
The designers who will make a new license agreement for this model have to accept it. Nvidia already had a 20-year deal. Apple is already among the founders of ARM. In this respect, these two companies will continue to be independent. However, designers such as MediaTek, Samsung, Qualcomm can be seriously harmed.