According to foreign media, British chip giant ARM is developing a GPU in Israel that will compete with Nvidia and Intel. It is estimated that ARM employs approximately 100 chip and software development engineers in its global graphics processing team located at the Lanana Development Center.
The report points out that ARM is currently committed to graphics processing in the gaming market. At the same time, if ARM decides to fully enter this field, this technology can also be used for artificial intelligence processing, just like the situation with Nvidia.
The operation mode of ARM is different from other chip companies. It does not develop or manufacture its own processors, but develops its own intellectual property or chip development software, and then sells it to chip companies. Chip companies adjust it according to their own needs and integrate it into their unique technologies. Thus, ARM became the 'Switzerland' of the chip industry - providing software for everyone but not competing with them - although this situation may soon change. The company's clients include Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Apple. Nvidia also uses ARM technology, although not in the GPU field.
It is understood that ARM's technology in the gaming field has been applied to processors in mobile phones and tablets, including processors produced by Qualcomm. Game companies including King, Riot Games, Warm Gaming, and Tencent have partnered with ARM to enhance game performance on chips produced based on their technology.
The hardware team of ARM located in Lanana is responsible for the development of many components of these GPUs, including the flagship product Immortalis GPU, while the Israeli software team develops software interfaces for external graphics engine developers, including Vulkan and OpenGL, for game developers of large companies and startups. The Israeli office of ARM is also responsible for software development and development tools, network security components to protect chip activities, and sales and service teams of Israeli chip companies that cooperate with ARM.
ARM's team in Israel collaborates with startups such as Hailo, who have developed an AI chip primarily installed on security cameras. It is reported that the development center assisted Hailo in programming and testing shortly after its establishment, ultimately helping it raise $16 million in early funding. Another Israeli company that collaborates with ARM is NeuReality by serial entrepreneur Moshe Tanach. The company has collaborated with ARM and AMD to develop hardware that eliminates the need for expensive Nvidia servers and saves power. NeuReality's 7nm chip adopts ARM's Neoverse technology, designed specifically for complex AI processing operations in data centers and terminal devices.
The ARM Israel Development Center is managed by Dedi Yellin, Director of ARM GPU Hardware Engineering and Israel Site Manager. In 2015, he joined ARM when the British company acquired Israeli startup Sansa Security for $80 million. Yellin initially served as the Director of Hardware Development at this Israeli company. Sansa Security develops data security components for mobile phones.
ARM is owned by SoftBank and was one of the most successful tech IPOs on Wall Street last year, with a valuation of $51 billion when it went public in September 2023. At present, the company's market value is $123 billion, and its stock price is expected to rise by nearly 70% in 2024. As of last month, the stock price has risen by 170% in 2024, but in mid July, due to lower than expected sales forecasts, the stock price fell by about one-third.
At the beginning of this month, ARM announced a 39% increase in Q2 revenue compared to the same period last year, reaching $939 million. According to its financial forecast, the expected revenue for the third quarter of 2024 is between 780 million and 830 million US dollars. ARM is facing competition from open-source enterprise RISC-V, which was founded at the University of California, Berkeley to allow the developer community to design chip technology that companies can use for free.
But sources say there are several possible growth directions for ARM. It is believed that the company plans to launch AI processors for its own servers to compete with Nvidia. There are also reports that ARM plans to collaborate with MTK and Nvidia to launch AI processors for PCs, competing with processors from Intel and AMD. In addition, ARM also provides services to tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Amazon, helping them develop AI processors and servers to avoid dependence on Nvidia and Intel. ARM has 7300 employees in its development centers in Cambridge, UK, USA, Taiwan, and Israel.
