Such a brilliant move it could be!
Time to fund chip-design startups? =)
Apple to acquire ARM?
31–40 of 46 posts
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#32It seems Apple already holds some kind of ownership over ARM. From ARM Wikipedia page:
The Company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Inc and VLSI Technology
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#33They might as well buy AMD while they're at it ( http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:AMD ).
Admittedly I thought that AMD made more sense initially but I think the key might be that Apple isn't really a "computer company" anymore. Laptop and desktop sales aren't nearly as important as iphone, ipod and ipad sales. With that buying AMD may not be as enticing as ARM as there may be more of a future in the small devices. Not sure on the numbers but I would also imagine the margins are much better on the small d…
With that in mind, why buy ARM? Why not buy something new and really innovate.
We're at the point where there's only one platform that isn't doing multi-architecture development, and even Microsoft has Windows CE / Mobile running on ARM and x86.
With the way things are going, it's conceivable you could see mobiles running MIPS, Power, and half a dozen other technologies. Apple could lead the way if they bought up a couple smaller companies.
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#34It seems Apple already holds some kind of ownership over ARM. From ARM Wikipedia page: The Company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Inc and VLSI Technology
That means Apple was an initial investor, so it held stock in ARM. Somebody here posted that Apple sold its stock years ago, though.
Related question: is there actually public information on who are the major stockholders of a publically traded corporation? I'd love to see that.
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#35Such a brilliant move it could be! Time to fund chip-design startups? =)
One of the chip-design startup exit strategies has long been "getting acquired by ARM", actually. Quite some acquisitions happened during my time at ARM (4 years).
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#36ARM is a British company. The EU Competition Commissioner wouldn't allow this sale to go through because it would threaten European interests (i.e. those of Ericsson, Nokia, etc).
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#37I wonder how many patents protect the ARM ISA.
Because it's not the ARM implementation we depend on - it's compatibility with its instruction set.
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#38It seems Apple already holds some kind of ownership over ARM. From ARM Wikipedia page: The Company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Inc and VLSI Technology
That means Apple was an initial investor, so it held stock in ARM. Somebody here posted that Apple sold its stock years ago, though. Related question: is there actually public information on who are the major stockholders of a publically traded corporation? I'd love to see that.
In the UK, all public companies (except those threatened by animal right extremists) must maintain a public register of all shareholders.
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#39We will get torches and pitchforks to storm Apple if that happens!
Re: Apple to acquire ARM?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
they have 40+ billion in cash. theyre saving it up for something huge (my own beliefs and from what theyve hinted at). Nvidia or AMD/ATI could be it.
IMO ARM would be better choice compared to Intel/AMD/NVIDIA, etc. as Apple is getting into more portables... But I wish they would buy Foxconn, so that they can control manufacturing too!
If they owned Foxconn they would own all the human rights troubles too. Contractors provide a necessary distance and deniability.