Apple with P.A. is possible ARM architecture licensee

Peter Clarke, EE Times
(07/30/2008 10:50 AM EDT)

LONDON — Warren East, chief executive officer of ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England), has declined to name the company that has taken a multiyear architecture license for ARM's current and future technologies. But East gave enough clues while speaking to financial analysts on Wednesday (July 30) to show clearly that Apple is a contender.

I'll throw down some circumstantial evidence but for me processor design guru Dan Dobberpuhl is the key.

Whoever the licensee should prove to be, the company signed the far-reaching license during the second quarter, and is a leading OEM handset maker that wants to develop its roadmap for mobile computing devices. It is also seems to be handset maker that wants to keep control of its handset design, including the components within it. Sound like anyone familiar?

The Apple iPhone is thought to have as many as five ARM processor cores inside it, but those processor cores are contained in multiple chips from several different chip vendors. Wouldnt that be perfect for rationalizing into a multicore ARM architecture, if Apple chose to go down that route?

Click here to read more ...