Taipei Times (TT): Has Softbank set a different goal for ARM in running its Internet of Things (IoT) business following the acquisition?
Dipesh Patel: We have been pursuing IoT strategy for the past four years. With the Softbank acquisition, we are in the position to accelerate investments. The strategy we are pursuing is very similar to what we were pursuing before.
We have built a new device managing service unit. It is called “mbed cloud.” The service just started. We have been working closely with our lead partners to have their devices connected and to start managing their devices. This is our goal.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Wang, Taipei Times.
TT: Which IoT sectors does ARM focus on?
Dipesh: We have chosen three sectors to focus on. The first one is about utilities, such as “smart” meters and energy management. The second one is about asset-tracking. This is where you can track assets as they go from the source to destination. The third one is about connecting spaces. It is more about “smart” building and environments where you can have IoT devices.
TT: ARM has announced a joint venture in China. What role will the joint venture play?
Rene Haas: We signed a memorandum of understanding on May 15 with the intent to establish a joint venture in China. The primary reason, or the benefit for us, is entering the Chinese market with products that we might have been unable to introduce if we tried to market them independently.
The joint venture will be a joint effort between outside investors and ARM. It intends to develop projects specifically for the Chinese market.
The Chinese government plans to implement a policy about security and control and wants products that are able to address the requirements. We thought the best strategy was to establish a joint venture.
The products developed by the joint venture would also be made available for ARM to license them worldwide.
TT: What will be the first product from the joint venture?
Haas: Areas like IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, these are big sectors. Also, security. China has very specific requirements for security and what needs to stay inside China.
TT: What is ARM’s take on Apple Inc’s and Samsung Electronic Co’s plans to develop their own graphic processing units (GPUs)?
Haas: We are investing very heavily on our GPU road map... We think it is a very big market. It is not only for mobile devices, but also for computer vision, machine learning, AI processors, etc. The products we are announcing [during Computex Taipei] are well-suited for those applications.
TT: What can ARM offer in terms of AI?
Dipesh: AI is a field that is just beginning. One of the things that [gives us] huge opportunities is AI being at every edge of computing.
Today, a lot of what we hear about AI is mostly in the cloud or in data centers. We believe AI is going to exist in the cloud, in networks, as well as in client devices. ARM’s technologies address all those markets. [Edge computing is a method of optimizing cloud computing systems by performing data processing at the edge of the network, near the source of the data.]
TT: Has ARM set any targets for its server business?
Haas: We have set a target of taking 25 percent of the global share by 2021. This market takes time [to grow]... We already see some good indicators. Microsoft Corp made a big announcement a few months ago, regarding what they are going to do with ARM-based servers.
TT: How many partners is ARM working with in the server business?
Haas: We have been working with seven or eight chipmakers, including Hisilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體) [a handset chip designing subsidiary of Huawei Technologies Inc (華為)].
TT: Do you have a target for the new mbed cloud unit?
Dipesh: We have not announced any targets yet. On Wednesday [today], I am going to talk about our partnership with Advantech Co (研華). That is an example of where we are working very closely with our partners to bring their products into production. We are also working with other partners, including those from Taiwan.
In the lighting space, we are working with General Electric Co. General Electric is doing the “smart” lighting in San Diego.
TT: Which process technology has ARM adopted for server CPUs, 7-nanometer or 10-nanometer? Which foundry are your partners working with? Samsung Electronics Co or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電)?
Haas: All of those. It is still early. We have partners working on both 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer with Samsung and TSMC.
TT: The timing for ARM to enter the PC market is intriguing as the market is declining. Why now?
Haas: Microsoft is really pushing this. Windows 10 is going to support both [Intel Corp’s] x86 and ARM architecture. Old applications that used to run x86 do not run on ARM. Now Microsoft has solved that problem. Legacy applications will run on ARM [chips] just as fast as they did on x86.
Microsoft is really pushing the strategy more than ARM and our partners. Microsoft still wants laptops that have greater battery life and are very small, very light, very thin and that also can have application capabilities like smartphones. That has not changed. Now that the software application issues have been addressed, the timing is quite good.
TT: What are ARM’s thoughts about Intel’s expansion into the foundry business?
Haas: It is a good strategy for them. It is a tough market. They have leading technology products, so I think it is a good strategy. When you look at the capital investment they make, which is just very like large companies do, that can compete with Samsung and TSMC. I thinks it is a good allocation of capital, but it is a tough market, because it is very competitive.
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