Arm CEO Rene Haas has openly expressed his aspirations for AI, envisioning that all future AI applications will run on Arm technology in some form. This strategic shift suggests that Arm, known as the king of mobile chips, is following its Windows on Arm success by pushing toward "AI on Arm."
In early 2024, reports emerged that Arm had established an AI chip division backed by SoftBank investments, aiming for mass production by 2025. When asked about these reports, Dermot O'Driscoll, vice president of product solutions at Arm, did not deny them.
In response to Yicai's questions regarding Arm's ambitions in AI chip development, O'Driscoll stated that Arm's goal is to ensure its presence wherever computational solutions are needed. He emphasized that all market segments involving AI training or aspects of AI inference would utilize Arm's chip solutions, adding that Nvidia remains an important partner.
The recent Arm Tech Symposia concluded in Shenzhen, marking the end of Arm's tour across five cities in the Asia-Pacific region. Industry observers have noted changes within Arm as it enters the AI era.
As a leading computing platform provider, Arm has historically focused primarily on direct communication with downstream chip designers such as Qualcomm, Apple, and MediaTek.
However, the burgeoning demand for AI services across mobile platforms has enabled Arm to leverage its technological solutions toward a successful transformation. The company has also begun paying greater attention to developers and collaborating with various terminal manufacturers in recent years.
Through strategic partnerships and collaborations, Arm is expanding its influence well beyond the traditional semiconductor industry.
James McNiven, vice president of product management at Arm, emphasized that AI will be one of the most significant technological transformations of our time, with the potential to become one of humanity's most vital technologies.
McNiven noted that making AI accessible across more domains and users requires simultaneous advancement in hardware, software, and ecosystems. Progress in AI integration would be limited by relying solely on any single aspect.
To address this, Arm aims to accelerate the AI ecosystem's development by creating both hardware better suited for AI and software aligned with the AI era, as demonstrated by the recently announced Armv9 architecture and Kleidi.
McNiven added that AI will eventually become central to future smart devices, from personal terminals to data centers, positioning Arm as the foundation for software operations in the AI age.
Having established its leading position in mobile chips, Arm has since been penetrating markets including PCs, servers, and automobiles, driving a fervent wave of Windows on Arm adoption.
Building upon its hardware and ecosystem, Arm now seeks to enable more devices to support AI capabilities. The company has set a goal of reaching one hundred billion AI-capable Arm-powered devices by 2025.
Currently, the shipment volume of Arm architecture chips has exceeded 300 billion units.
