Latest news with #ChipDesign
Reuters
30-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Arm considers developing own chips; stock falls as outlook disappoints
July 30 (Reuters) - Chip architecture provider Arm Holdings is investing in developing its own chips, CEO Rene Haas said on Wednesday, marking a major shift to its model of licensing its blueprints to other companies. Arm also issued quarterly forecasts that failed to satisfy investors who have sent the company's stock surging in recent months on expectations it will become a key player in artificial intelligence. Arm shares slumped around 8% in extended trading on Wednesday. The plan to invest more heavily in developing its own chips marks a departure from Arm's long-time business of supplying intellectual property to companies ranging from Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab to (AMZN.O), opens new tab, which already design their own chips. Finished chips are the "physical embodiment" of a product Arm already sells called Compute Sub Systems (CSS), Haas said. "We are consciously deciding to invest more heavily - is the possibility of going beyond (designs) and building something, building chiplets or even possible solutions," Haas said in an interview with Reuters. Chiplets are smaller, modular versions of a larger chip. Chiplets perform specific functions, and designers will stitch several together to form a complete processor. To build up the necessary staff to make chiplets and other finished chips, Arm has been recruiting from its customers and competing against them for deals, Reuters has reported. Haas declined to provide a timeframe in which the company's investments in the new strategy would translate into profit, or give specifics about potential new products that are part of the initiative. But, Haas said that Arm would look at chiplets, "a physical chip, a board, a system, all of the above." In recent months, chip companies have begun to focus more effort on building the necessary server hardware, or server rack, around a chip. Nvidia sells its NV72 rack systems, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab acquired server builder ZT Systems to build system-level products. This expansion of its business could put Arm in competition with some of its customers, who design finished chips and chiplets for their own products. Arm has surged around 150% since its stock market debut in 2023, and its shares recently traded at over 80 times expected earnings, far higher than the PE valuations of Nvidia, Advanced Micro and other chipmakers focused on AI. The company forecast second-quarter profit slightly below estimates on Wednesday, as global trade tensions threaten to hit demand for Arm in its mainstay smartphone market. Arm's chip technology powers nearly every smartphone in the world, and its tame forecast underscores uncertainty faced by global manufacturers and their suppliers resulting from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies. UK-based Arm forecast adjusted per-share profit between 29 cents and 37 cents for the fiscal second quarter, the midpoint of which is below analysts' average estimate of 36 cents per share, according to LSEG data. The forecast disappointed investors, according to Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan. "Results and outlook were light and below expectations," he said. The company generates revenue through licensing deals for its intellectual property and a royalty charged for each chip sold that uses its technology. Smartphones remain Arm's biggest stronghold. Morningstar analysts expect Arm to continue as the dominant architecture provider in smartphone processors, where it has a 99% market share. Global trade tensions, however, cloud the outlook for the market. Uncertainty fueled by tariff volatility and ongoing macroeconomic challenges has tapered end-market demand, with global smartphone shipments increasing just 1% in the April-to-June period, according to International Data Corporation. Arm expects current-quarter revenue between $1.01 billion and $1.11 billion, in line with estimates of $1.06 billion. The company reported first-quarter sales of $1.05 billion, coming in just shy of estimates of $1.06 billion. Adjusted profit of 35 cents per share was in line with estimates. "Smartphone royalties (call it 'Android on a low‑carb diet') remain soft, especially in China, but cloud‑server and AI accelerator design wins keep the (next generation Arm tech) royalty treadmill humming," Running Point Capital chief investment officer Michael Schulman said.
Reuters
30-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Arm to develop own chips; stock falls as outlook disappoints
July 30 (Reuters) - Chip architecture provider Arm Holdings is investing in developing its own chips, CEO Rene Haas said on Wednesday, marking a major shift to its model of licensing its blueprints to other companies. Arm also issued quarterly forecasts that failed to satisfy investors who have sent the company's stock surging in recent months on expectations it will become a key player in artificial intelligence. Arm shares slumped around 8% in extended trading on Wednesday. The plan to invest more heavily in developing its own chips marks a departure from Arm's long-time business of supplying intellectual property to companies ranging from Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab to (AMZN.O), opens new tab, which already design their own chips. Finished chips are the "physical embodiment" of a product Arm already sells called Compute Sub Systems (CSS), Haas said. "We are consciously deciding to invest more heavily — is the possibility of going beyond (designs) and building something, building chiplets or even possible solutions," Haas said in an interview with Reuters. Chiplets are smaller, modular versions of a larger chip. Chiplets perform specific functions, and designers will stitch several together to form a complete processor. To build up the necessary staff to make chiplets and other finished chips, Arm has been recruiting from its customers and competing against them for deals, Reuters has reported. Haas declined to provide a timeframe in which the company's investments in the new strategy would translate into profit, or give specifics about potential new products that are part of the initiative. But, Haas said that Arm would look at chiplets, "a physical chip, a board, a system, all of the above." In recent months, chip companies have begun to focus more effort on building the necessary server hardware, or server rack, around a chip. Nvidia sells its NV72 rack systems, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab acquired server builder ZT Systems to build system-level products. This expansion of its business could put Arm in competition with some of its customers, who design finished chips and chiplets for their own products. The company forecast second-quarter profit slightly below estimates on Wednesday, as global trade tensions threaten to hit demand for Arm in its mainstay smartphone market. The company's chip technology powers nearly every smartphone in the world, and its tame forecast underscores uncertainty faced by global manufacturers and their suppliers resulting from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies. UK-based Arm forecast adjusted per-share profit between 29 cents and 37 cents for the fiscal second quarter, the midpoint of which is below analysts' average estimate of 36 cents per share, according to LSEG data. The company generates revenue through licensing deals for its intellectual property and a royalty charged for each chip sold that uses its technology. Smartphones remain Arm's biggest stronghold. Morningstar analysts expect Arm to continue as the dominant architecture provider in smartphone processors, where it has a 99% market share. Global trade tensions, however, cloud the outlook for the market. Uncertainty fueled by tariff volatility and ongoing macroeconomic challenges has tapered end-market demand, with global smartphone shipments increasing just 1% in the April-to-June period, according to International Data Corporation. The company expects current-quarter revenue between $1.01 billion and $1.11 billion, in line with estimates of $1.06 billion. The company reported first-quarter sales of $1.05 billion, coming in just shy of estimates of $1.06 billion. Adjusted profit of 35 cents per share was in line with estimates. It has also made attempts to diversify into the booming data center market, where customers such as Amazon's (AMZN.O), opens new tab cloud unit use its technology.
Phone Arena
29-07-2025
- Phone Arena
Exynos 2600 could fix Samsung's biggest chip problem
Power efficiency and heat management are super important (if not, the most important) aspects of chip design. Samsung's own Exynos processors are unfortunately known for their poor efficiency and heat management when compared with Qualcomm's. However, a new report from South Korea indicates that Samsung is trying new technologies to work on its upcoming in-house chips and to improve heat management. The Exynos 2600 processor, which is expected to be used in some Galaxy S26 versions, reportedly sports a newer thermal management tech. Samsung is said to use a new chip packaging technology, which should improve the performance of the Exynos 2600 chip. The company may reportedly use Heat Pass Block (otherwise known as HPB), a way of inserting heat-dissipating materials inside the semiconductor chip package. The Exynos 2600 is said to be a 2nm chip designed by Samsung and fabricated using Samsung Foundry. It would be the first chip by the company to use HPB. HPB is a copper-based heat sink that is placed on top of the application processor and DRAM component. Image Credit - Samsung This heat sink is intended to absorb the heat that is generated by the CPU, GPU, RAM, and other components found in smartphone SoCs. Samsung is expected to finish testing the Exynos 2600 by October of this year. If it gets favorable results, the mass production of the processor will soon follow, with the intention of it to power some of the Galaxy S26 phones, expected for an early 2026 launch. The Galaxy S26 Ultra may be the only phone sporting exclusively the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, which is a processor made by Qualcomm. In the past few years, Samsung has been trying new chip packaging methods for Exynos chips, looking for a way to improve their performance and have them more on par with Qualcomm's counterparts. For example, the Exynos 2400 used the Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP) technology, which had both the input and output terminals outside the semiconductor chip, which offered better heat dissipation. The Exynos 2600 is also said to use FOWLP. I personally think this is a smart move by Samsung. If they can really improve heat management and efficiency, that could make Exynos chips much more competitive. A cooler phone means better performance and longer battery life – things everyone wants. It's good to see Samsung learning from past mistakes and trying new tech like HPB and FOWLP. If testing goes well, the Galaxy S26 with the Exynos 2600 might surprise us in a good way.
Bloomberg
24-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Chip Designer Ambarella Explores Potential Sale
By and Dinesh Nair Updated on Save Chip design company Ambarella Inc. is considering options including a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. Ambarella, which is working with bankers, has reached out to potential buyers, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The company, whose stock rose as much as 20% on the news, has a market value of about $2.6 billion.
Bloomberg
29-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Synopsys Gets Conditional FTC Green Light on $34 Billion Deal
Chip-design company Synopsys Inc. won approval from the Federal Trade Commission for its planned $34 billion buyout of software developer Ansys Inc. after agreeing to sell assets. According to the FTC, Synopsys will sell optical and photonic software tools to Keysight Technologies Inc., an electronics testing and measurement company. Ansys will also sell a power consumption analysis product to Keysight.
