But the biggest reason is that Apple just doesn't do that. They don't crush competitors by acquiring their partners. They crush competitors by out-designing them, out-marketing them and out-selling them, period.
Apple very probably owns an ARM architectural license, so they don't need to buy ARM to develop their own custom next generation ARM CPU that no one else can use.
They can't limit the market for advanced ARM CPU designs because other companies already have ARM architecture licenses (Qualcomm, Marvell, Freescale or Motorola, et.al.) that likely can't be pulled.
ARM's profits might shrink if Apple's competitors migrate to MIPS or Atom out of paranoia, which could seriously devalue the $8B Apple would have paid. The idea is to spend money to increase shareholder value, not decrease it.
However, they could be bidding the price up to keep anyone else from getting control of ARM Holdings too cheaply or at all. That's a more likely reason.
...but it is unclear whether such a move would be allowed by regulatory agencies and even if so, how effective it would be as other chip designers moved in to fill the void.
someone like Intel.
Because basically it's the only cow in town. You get the cow and can keep all the milk for your own personal use. Nobody else gets milk.
Did you even bother to read the linked article?
Hey, it might just be a fake rumor, but if Apple bought ARM it might screw up some of the other competitors for a couple years.
Why would Apple buy it and then cut off sales to others.? How would they pay all of Arm's employees? What's the point of buying the company then gutting it by laying off 80% of the staff?
I've said it before and I'll say it again!
Apple wouldn't buy ARM to "screw" competitors by stopping/withholding licenses, which would make the red phone ring at the SEC. I am concerned about it though. But buying ARM gives them things like:
1. Vertical integration
2. Intricate knowledge of ARM roadmap and designs, giving them a lead time to optimize chips (if they want) and programs
3. Control over ARMs roadmap and goals
4. Access to people who know a lot about mobile computing, programming, and hardware design. They basically design the core of every mobile chip. Pretty useful to have around when you need consultants on ipads and iphones.
I think it would be a good choice. At the very least, the company is poised to play a big role in the future.
It's not the only cow. and cows are easy to make.
If Apple bought Arm. Many Arm employees would quit and form a company that would serve the market and Apple owned Arm would not. They'd gain nothing.
Not only that, Arm is worth $8B only because of the amount of product it sells. Why would Apple buy it and then cut off sales to others.? How would they pay all of Arm's employees? What's the point of buying the company then gutting it by laying off 80% of the staff?
1. As noted by other commenters, the fact that ARM processors kick all over their competitors and have dominant market share does not imply anti-competitive behavior (which is what anti-trust is concerned with)
Uh huh. And the reason that no company has managed to produce a competitive product in the last 20 years is . . . ?
Oh, I see. ARM employees would magically take trade secrets and IP with them when they left the company. Why didn't I think of that?
Strawman much? As if that's the only possible action Apple could take? Here's a wild idea: Maybe Apple doesn't cut off sales to others, but merely reserves the best innovations for itself and sells next-best tech to everyone else. Even ARM's next-best tech is competitive with Qualcomm, Atom, etc.
Here's another wild idea: how about actual considering the subject before spouting off?
You act like IP is something you can put in a box and lock behind a door.Oh, I see. ARM employees would magically take trade secrets and IP with them when they left the company. Why didn't I think of that?
I'm not sure they can. The last new architecture they developed was the Itanic. The last low power CPU they made was StrongARM -> XScale.a lot of companies have patents that they can use to create a low power CPU. Intel can do it, but they insist on using x86. they could create a non x86 low power CPU that would probably just as good or better than ARM if the business need came up
I really don't think regulators would care. AMD bought ATI after all... Apple is a small player in phones, ARM has the lions share of the market but they're not alone out there.
As the wiser voices have been saying, it would be ludicrous from Apple to not sell to other phone companies. It would crater their investment. $8B is already something like 4x market cap and ARM has a P/E in the 80s. How would Apple recoup that investment just by getting their own chips cheaper and canceling sales to the rest of the world?
Remember that the phone industry runs on a very, very short product cycle. If Apple could get a 6 month lead on technology, it would be huge. Even if all comers had access to the physical chips at the same time, having early access to (and influence over) the roadmap would be a very big deal.