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SoftBank Nears Deal to Sell Arm to Nvidia [Updated]
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And you are wrong about Apple developing ARM, joint or otherwise. It was developed by a British complany in the 80s. Apple joined in way after the fact in efforts to improve it. So no Apple didn’t invent everything in the world
I really hope that Nvidia becomes a major player to compete against AMD, Intel, Qualcomm and Apple. The more competition the better. It’s great for consumers.
Having said that, it isn’t a big deal for Apple. Apple has it‘s roadmap. It’s a better fit for Nvidia as selling silicon is their primary business.
It's TMSC that is doing the Apple silicon, right? Wouldn't the agreement be between TMSC and Arm? Even if Apple owns TMSC, isn't the agreement pre-Apple? I don't remember.
And depending on the agreement, Apple could be completely untouched by any Arm sales agreement apparently. It makes for some drama for sure.
I'd imagine nVidia is thinking they can use the technology of the Arm processor and come out with multi core GPU's, and if anyone should be afraid of this deal, it's probably Intel, as AMD is already stealing their lunch, and if nVidia and their Arm purchase can turbo charge their GPU's, they can double time on Intel, pushing even further into the background. It's about to get interesting for all...
*shrug*
Yeah, if Apple had any negative exposure, I'm sure they would be bidding on either Arm, nVivia, or waiting to snatch up both.
Having its own CPU design in-house would allow Nvidia to better conjoin ARM CPUs to its GPU accelerators, and put it on a more level playing field with Intel and AMD. Nvidia already announced it'll bring Cuda to ARM and enable Nvidia's full stack of HPC software within the ARM ecosystem. Custom ARM CPUs could be the next step, as far as Nvidia is concerned.
It’s my understanding that while the moderators are volunteers, the writers and editors are paid. News doesn’t take the weekend off. This website isn’t someone’s personal blog. Nothing wrong with only checking this site for apple related news, but I have a bunch of sites I frequent for various topics. If an editor or writer wants to take the weekend off, have another one take over. 😊
As far as buying stocks in SoftBank, I think that shipped sailed when rumors came out that they were trying to unload Arm a few months back.
Probably me...I cannot stand NVIDIA or their business practices. They can take their “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” and shove it up their a**.
NVIDIA is an existential threat to Apple and their arrogance is what got them tossed. Their belief that their GPUs are more important than the CPU (AMD, Intel or anyone) begs the question if they actually understand how computing works. I have almost divested myself of any NVIDIA GPUs that I own.
Sure, if I need Lara Croft’s t*ts in the highest fidelity, I’m sure NVIDIA is the go to, but it still not the real thing, and it never will.
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"The relationship between Apple and Arm Holdings dates back to 1990, when Apple Computer UK became a founding co-stakeholder. The other co-partners at that time were the Arm concept's originator, Acorn Computers Ltd. (more about Acorn later) and custom semiconductor maker VLSI Technology (named for the common semiconductor manufacturing process called "very large-scale integration"). Today, Arm Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank, which announced its intent to purchase the licensor in July 2016. At the time, the acquisition deal was the largest for a Europe-based technology firm.'
Read up some more before making such definitive statements. And based on your original statement that I replied to, you clearly had no idea that Apple previously had some ownership, regardless of who can claim what percentage of development. A little advise, not every reply you make to everyone has to be insulting. It just makes you look like a petulant child.
edit: there is a lot of interesting information out there, but here is one (simplified) summary of interest. It doesn't go into a lot of detail, but does touch upon how Apple was part of a partnership that provided funding to Arm development.
How STEVE JOBS saved Apple's bacon with an outstretched ARM
And how a 'surprisingly small' UK company conquered the world
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Um. Ok. Maybe you should research the 3000 series RTX line then refresh this comment.
Ah well...because this is Apple fan based site after all...I find chips discussion usually are more foster on AnandTech forum.
Called it, even tho some of the cultists here said otherwise.
Nvidia pushing Arm on Windows.
Apple pushing Arm on MacOS.
The death of x86 is 99.9% guaranteed. It's a matter of WHEN.
Nvidia pushing Arm on Windows.
Apple pushing Arm on MacOS.
The death of x86 is 99.9% guaranteed. It's a matter of WHEN.
Nice spin their pal. You go from your misleading comment attributing undue credit for Apple developing ARM, and now show a quotation that doesn't prove anything. Old Apple had a vested interest in ARM at some point, the same amount as VLSI, but had nothing to do with its origin. British company Acorn who invented it in 1983. VLSI and Apple joined in years later to hop on the train for a while."The relationship between Apple and Arm Holdings dates back to 1990, when Apple Computer UK became a founding co-stakeholder. The other co-partners at that time were the Arm concept's originator, Acorn Computers Ltd. (more about Acorn later) and custom semiconductor maker VLSI Technology (named for the common semiconductor manufacturing process called "very large-scale integration"). Today, Arm Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank, which announced its intent to purchase the licensor in July 2016. At the time, the acquisition deal was the largest for a Europe-based technology firm.'
Read up some more before making such definitive statements. And based on your original statement that I replied to, you clearly had no idea that Apple previously had some ownership, regardless of who can claim what percentage of development. A little advise, not every reply you make to everyone has to be insulting. It just makes you look like a petulant child.
edit: there is a lot of interesting information out there, but here is one (simplified) summary of interest. It doesn't go into a lot of detail, but does touch upon how Apple was part of a partnership that provided funding to Arm development.
How STEVE JOBS saved Apple's bacon with an outstretched ARM
And how a 'surprisingly small' UK company conquered the worldwww.theregister.com
Apple being a stakeholder for a brief time doesn't mean jack now.
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Microsoft dictates what's on Windows, not Nvidia. In fact, nothing Microsoft is focusing indicates a move from x86 in the slightest.
Apple is < 10% of the general computing consumer outside mobile. It hasn't expanded in any substantial way in the past five years.
The idea that x86 is a dying platform is not remotely substantiated.
Bwahahahaha. If you were actually following Microsoft and Windows closely, you'll know that's the opposite of what they're planning. Hint: Surface and continuity.
Nope. The MARKET dictates everything. MS Knows where this is all heading and it’s certainly NOT with Intel.
I would love to see the 30 series and beyond Nvidia GPUs in future Macs. It's not going happen though.
If you completely ignore Windows 10 on ARM, then yes. Nothing indicates a move from x86.
But Windows 10 on ARM exists, you can get it now, and they're definitely working away from x86.
There is a reason only Nvidia was willing to pull the trigger on an absurdly overpriced $40 Billion--they need to do so to remain relevant. Intel, AMD and Apple have the entire CPU/GPGPU ecosystem sewn up. There are only two major players in the general PC--AMD and Intel.
Apple is independent of both. No one is threatening nor will threaten their ecosystem: they have perpetual IP licenses for ARM and ImgTec, combined with their ever expanding base of IP in both CPUs and GPUs.
The only other major GPU vendor, Nvidia, needs more than GPUs to maintain their inflated valuation with Wall Street Analysts, and ARM was considered a must buy. SoftBank paid entirely too much for ARM at $32 Billion when that transaction happened. They have a lot of debt and weren't going to unload it for < $40 Billion.
Oracle passed. Apple Passed, and several other players have passed. Qualcomm and every other major ARM based vendor passed.
Nvidia is about to get thumped in the Server Compute end of business with AMD forthcoming CDNA 1.0 based Compute focused GPGPUs tied in with their expanding Zen EPYC line of processors. Come Zen 4 [Fall 2021] you have an MCM designed system of SoC X3D (AMD) design coupled with the latest TSMC 3D fabbed process that will house each SoC with up to a 128 Core Zen 4 EPYC CPU and an 8 x 16GB HBM2e CDNA 2.0 GPGPU, on a single SoC interposer that is capable of being tied to seven more instances for a combined 8 SoC communicating through Infinity Fabric 3.0 per Server Node. This is the reason the $600 million El Capitan Supercomputer project was awarded to Cray/AMD to be lit early 2023.
Reading such Announcements should have made it clear that Nvidia needed a way into the CPU market.
Nvidia has no CPU and the days of coupling their GPUs with either Intel or AMD are over.
If they didn't overpay for ARM their long term viability will soon come into question. They have to drive toward the IoTs and they must use their current market valuation to turn much of their revenues back into R&D to attempt to be a top tier player in five years, or suffer the likes of Matrox and others that have gone by the way side.
Yep this. Apple licenses all sorts of components, from the Apple-designed Samsung screens to the flash storage they get from Toshiba. No need.
Am I the only one to whom another transition in 4-10 years does not sound like a good idea?
Serious noob question: Is it plausible that Apple intends to move forward with its own fork of the current design (V8?), ignoring future ARM design iterations? Haven’t they adopted new designs in the past?
Well, if Apple‘s license with Samsung were restricted to the current screens and no future designs, that would be a problem, wouldn‘t it?
How is Nvidia "pushing ARM on Windows"? Nvidia is primarily focused on the datacenter as their growth sector. But they will be squeezed by server CPU/GPGPU combinations by both Intel (Xeon + Xe and Habana AI processors) and AMD. Discrete GPUs in laptops will mostly go away since AMD APUs and Intel CPUs with Xe-based iGPUs will be fast enough. If Nvidia isn't careful, they will be left with just the high-end graphic card market, which is comparatively small.
Until Nvidia can put a good Gforce GPU in the ARM processor that can compete to whatever AMD has w/ Ryzen on laptops, nothing is going to change that much. Hell, even then, developers need to work on their app/game to work on ARM.
Regardless, unless Nvidia has been working on this for a while, it's going to take a good while to see this happen.
Regardless, unless Nvidia has been working on this for a while, it's going to take a good while to see this happen.