Chipset company Arm, a British subsidiary of SoftBank Group, is to sell 51 percent stake in Arm Technology China for $775.2 million to financial investors and some partners.
The strategy of Arm is to form a joint venture for Arm’s existing semiconductor technology IP business in China.
Arm estimates that around 95 percent of all advanced chips designed in China in 2017 were based on Arm technology. Arm’s semiconductor technology IP business in China contributed around 20 percent of Arm’s revenues in fiscal 2017-18.
This joint venture, which will license Arm semiconductor technology to Chinese companies and develop Arm technology locally, will expand opportunities in the Chinese market,” said Arm in a statement.
Arm said it will continue to receive a significant proportion of all licence, royalty, software and services revenues arising from Arm China’s licensing of Arm semiconductor products.
Recently, Arm said the Cortex-A76 processor will perform most tasks 35 percent faster than its predecessor. In laptop PCs, that will let processors using ARM technology drive performance that’s as good as Intel-based machines and go much longer between battery charges.
Media reports suggest that several attempts by chipmakers using ARM’s designs have failed to gain traction against Intel’s X86 technology. Intel has about 95 percent revenue share in PC processors, and nine out of every 10 laptops are based on an Intel chip.
ARM’s latest attempt to muscle in on Intel began last year when PC makers began offering laptops based on Qualcomm processors using ARM technology.
