ARM Holdings
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Public (LSE: ARM, NASDAQ: ARMH) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1990 |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, England, UK |
| Key people | Doug Dunn (Chairman) Warren East (CEO) |
| Industry | RISC Semiconductors Microprocessors |
| Products | Processor IP; Physical IP |
| Revenue | £298.9 million (2008) |
| Operating income | £59.9 million (2008) |
| Net income | £43.6 million (2008) |
| Employees | 1,704 (2008) |
| Website | www.arm.com |
ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM, NASDAQ: ARMH) is a technology company headquartered in Cambridge, England, UK. The company is best known for its processors, although it also designs, licenses and sells software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms, system-on-a-chip infrastructure and software. It is probably the best-known of the Silicon Fen companies. The company was founded as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer and VLSI Technology (as Advanced RISC Machines), intended to further the development of the Acorn RISC Machine's RISC chip, which was originally used in the Acorn Archimedes and is now the processing core for many custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
The company is considered to be market dominant in the field of mobile phone chips.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The Company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer and VLSI Technology.[2] Its first profitable year was 1993.
The Company's Silicon Valley and Tokyo offices were opened in 1994.
In 1997 ARM Holdings invested in Palmchip Corporation to provide a system on chip platforms and to enter into the disk drive market.[3]
In 1998 the Company changed its name from Advanced RISC Machines Ltd to ARM Ltd.[4]
The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ in 1998.[5]
In 1999 ARM acquired Micrologic Solutions, a software consulting company based in Cambridge, UK[6]
Further expansion followed in 2000 when ARM acquired Allant Software, a developer of debugging software;[7] Infinite Designs, a design company based in Sheffield, UK[8] and EuroMIPS a smart card design house in Sophia Antipolis, France[9]
In 2001, ARM acquired the engineering team of Noral Micrologics, a debug hardware and software company based in Blackburn, UK.[10]
The Company's China office was opened in 2002. In 2003, ARM acquired Adelante Technologies of Belgium, creating its OptimoDE data engines business, a form of lightweight DSP engine.[11]
In 2004, ARM acquired Axys Design Automation, a developer of ESL design tools;[12] and Artisan Components, a designer of Physical IP (standard cell libraries, Memory Compilers, PHYs etc.), the building blocks of integrated circuits.[13]
Further acquisitions followed in 2005 when ARM acquired KEIL Software, a leading developer of software development tools for the microcontroller market, including 8051 and C16x platforms.[14] ARM also acquired the engineering team of PowerEscape.
In 2006, ARM acquired Falanx, a developer of 3D graphics accelerators,[15] and SOISIC, who specialise in developing silicon-on-insulator physical IP.[16]
[edit] Operations
The company has offices and design centres across the world, including San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; Olympia, Washington; Trondheim, Norway; Sophia Antipolis, France; Munich, Germany; Taiwan; Shin Yokohama, Japan; China; India; and Slovenia.[17]
A characteristic feature of ARM processors is their low electric power consumption, which makes them particularly suitable for use in portable devices.[18] In fact, almost all modern mobile phones and personal digital assistants contain ARM CPUs, making them the most widely-used 32-bit microprocessor family in the world. Today ARMs account for over 75% of all 32-bit embedded CPUs.[19]
ARM processors are used as the main CPU for most mobile phones, including those manufactured by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung;[20] many personal digital assistants and handhelds, like the Apple iPod & iPhone,[21] Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, Gamepark GP32, and Gamepark Holdings GP2X; as well as many other applications, including GPS, digital cameras, digital televisions, network devices and storage.[22] The WLAN processor of Sony's Playstation Portable is an ARM9[23]
Unlike other microprocessor corporations such as AMD, Intel, Freescale (formerly Motorola) and Renesas (formerly Hitachi and Mitsubishi),[24] ARM only licenses its technology as intellectual property (IP), rather than manufacturing its own CPUs. Thus, there are a few dozen companies making processors based on ARM's designs. Intel, Freescale and Renesas have all licensed ARM technology. In 2007, 2.9 billion chips based on an ARM design were manufactured.[25]
[edit] Company name
The acronym ARM originally stood for Acorn RISC Machine. The company name ARM stands for Advanced RISC Machines. This name was changed, around the time of the IPO, to "ARM Holdings", since it was felt the term RISC, which indicates a type of CPU design, being phonetically identical to risk, would deter people unfamiliar with computers.
[edit] Senior management
Warren East was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ARM Holdings in October 2001. For this role he is paid an annual salary of £415,000 and an annual bonus of £286,501. Hence his total annual remuneration is £701,501.[26][27]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ ARM CPU Core Dominates Mobile Market - Nikkei Electronics Asia - Tech-On!
- ^ ARM milestones, ARM company website, accessed February 5, 2008
- ^ Introduces Fully-Integrated, Low-Power Controller Core for OEM Mass Storage Design; New ARM-based, hard disk controller architecture reduces time-to-market and system costs
- ^ Advanced RISC Machines Ltd is now ARM Ltd
- ^ ARM wins billion dollar valuation in IPO
- ^ ARM buys Micrologic for instant development team
- ^ ARM acquires Allant Software
- ^ ARM in race for staff in Sheffield
- ^ Samsung and Incard Launch World's First 32-BitSmart Card for High-Volume SIM Applications
- ^ ARM buys Noral debug design team
- ^ ARM buys Adelante's design office, leaves core
- ^ ARM Holdings agrees to buy Aachen EDA company
- ^ ARM to buy designer of systems on a chip
- ^ ARM Purchases Keil Software
- ^ ARM buys Falanx
- ^ ARM acquires SOISIC
- ^ ARM offices, ARM company website, accessed February 5, 2008
- ^ ARM Processor Overview, ARM company website, accessed February 5, 2008
- ^ Product Backgrounder
- ^ "ARM is the market-leading architecture in mobile devices worldwide, with 80% of all handsets containing at least one ARM core.", Symbian website, accessed February 5, 2008
- ^ iPhone powered by Samsung, not Intel?, engadget, January 11, 2007
- ^ ARM powered products
- ^ Sony PlayStation Portable - PSP
- ^ Processor Licensees, ARM company website, accessed February 5, 2008
- ^ "For the reported year, ARM partners shipped just under 3 billion units (2.9bn)", ARM press release, February 5, 2008
- ^ "Warren East: Executive Profile & Biography". BusinessWeek. McGraw-Hill. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=1507093&ric=ARM.L. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
- ^ "Warren East Profile". Forbes.com. Forbes. http://people.forbes.com/profile/warren-east/7332. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
