ARM Holdings PLC, which designs chips used in a wide range of devices, including Apple Inc’s iPhones, yesterday said it was building a new chip design center in Taiwan to develop next-
generation processors for fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices.
The design center will be ARM’s first chip design center in Asia and the fourth of its kind around the globe. In the initial stage, the UK chip designer plans to build a 40 to 50-member design team in Hsinchu by the end of this year.
ARM now operates three chip design centers: one at its headquarters in Cambridge, England, with more than 1,000 employees, and the other two in Austin, Texas, and Sophia Antipolis, France.
“Close proximity to key semiconductor and ecosystem partners and high-caliber local engineering talent makes Taiwan an ideal location for us to expand our CPU design activities,” ARM chief executive officer Simon Segars said in a company statement.
“The new design center will have a particular focus on the development of ARM Cortex-M processors, which are the market-leading design choice for IoT products,” he said.
“Establishing a new, world-class CPU design team in Taiwan will allow us to work even more closely with key regional partners seeking to accelerate this market,” he added.
ARM’s local partners include contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), as well as handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科).
One of the key considerations was finding a talent pool when the CPU design is done, ARM CPU group deputy general manager Noel Hurley said.
“When we look around the world, what we see within Taiwan is a talent pool, but also research institutions that are capable of growing engineers over time as well,” Hurley said.
Minister of Science and Technology Simon Chang (張善政) said during the press conference in Taipei that “Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is playing a leading and strategic role in the global market.”
Chang said ARM’s announcement to establish a design center in Taiwan was an endorsement of “Taiwan’s strong talent and well-established industry chain.”
ARM yesterday did not disclose its planned investment amount for the chip design center in Taiwan.
The company aims to expand its share of wearable devices, IoT and embedded markets to 50 percent in 2018, from 22 percent last year.
The global wearable device market is expected to grow to more than 19 million units this year, more than tripling last year’s sales, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) forecast in April.
Global wearable device shipments are expected to grow to 111.9 million units in 2018, representing a compound annual growth rate of 78.4 percent, according to IDC.
Yesterday, ARM showcased wearable devices equipped with ARM-based chips, including activity trackers for pets, smart watches and head-mounted displays.
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