Apple to aquire ARM? Not likely, says ARM CEO

User Comments: 2

1. April 22, 2010 5:14 PM
   poundsmack said:

   there are several reasons why Apple might not actually end up owning ARM.

   For one thing, there are too many other influential companies ? folks like Google, LG, Marvell , Nokia and Samsung ? who depend on ARM's technology to run their businesses, and they are sure to start a bidding war if they believe ARM is in play. Those companies might not have as much cash as Apple, but they can raise a stink.

   And then there are the regulators. With so many companies threatened by the prospect of Apple buying ARM, some regulator somewhere would certainly argue that a sale would be bad for competition in the global mobile market. If they allowed Apple to buy ARM at all, I imagine they would demand assurances that ARM technology would continue to be available to Apple's competitors under decent licensing terms.

   Bottom line: It's easy to see why Apple might want ARM, harder to imagine a deal going through. Can you imagine Steve Jobs owning the intellectual property behind the world's cell phone chips, and happily licensing it to competitors who are building phones with Google and Microsoft (MSFT)? Me either.

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2. April 23, 2010 11:22 AM
   ET3D, TechSpot Paladin, said:

   I said so on another site, but IMO Via is a more reasonable buyout target for Apple than either AMD or ARM. I'd probably cost in the same ballpark as ARM, much less than AMD, and it has both graphics, x86, chipset expertise and IP. Graphics could be used to replace external IP such as Imagination Technologies', and x86 IP even if not used could probably be leveraged against Intel.

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