UK chip company Arm confirmed it was exploring the idea of launching its own chips on Wednesday in a move that would represent a significant shake-up in its relationship with big customers such as Nvidia.
Arm chief executive Rene Haas said the company, which offers the designs that other companies base their chips on, was accelerating its research and development spending as it considers offering “full end solutions” — suggesting it wants to design complete chips.
SoftBank-owned Arm’s designs dominate the smartphone chip ecosystem, with Apple and Samsung using Arm-based chips in their products. Nvidia also incorporates them into its artificial intelligence data centre products.