ARM Holdings Ltd, which designs processors for most smartphones, including iPhones, yesterday said a target of including its processors in 1 trillion Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices by 2035 is realistic.
“We think it is a right target that there will be 1 trillion devices to be deployed,” said John Ronco, general manager of ARM’s embedded line of business.
“When you look at connected [IoT] devices, the most promising market is ‘smart’ cities,” he said.
The company said it has been observing projects conducted in other nations, such as SoftBank Group’s earthquake monitoring system in Japan and initiatives by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to deploy narrow-band IoT connected devices.
The ministry is ambitious in the number of units relating to “smart” cities and bike sharing they expect to propagate in the next five years, ARM said.
It is clear that the highest volume of IoT devices will not be vehicles, Ronco said, adding that the real challenge remains security.
To address data security issues, ARM has launched “Platform Security Architecture,” which has received positive responses from partners, he said.
The platform is a holistic set of threat models, security analyses, hardware and firmware architecture specifications, the company said.
Commenting on ARM’s developments relating to artificial intelligence (AI), Ronco said the company has formed a team of AI engineers in different research and development centers around the world, including Taiwan.
AI can be applied to a broad range of applications, such as machines, robots, drones and vehicles, ARM said.
Taiwan has strong potential in AI, as Taiwanese embrace new technologies, ARM vice president and general manager of IoT devices Paul Williamson said.
Taiwan is one of several Asian nations that received high scores in an AI survey conducted by Northstar Research Partners on behalf of ARM.
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