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UK Chip Designer ARM to Be Acquired by Japan's Softbank for $31.4B
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The A7 features an Apple-designed[2] 64-bit[5] 1.3[2]–1.4[3] GHz ARMv8-A[4][6]dual-core CPU,[2] calledCyclone.[4] The ARMv8-A instruction set doubles the number of registers of the A7 compared to the ARMv7 used in A6.[13] It has 31 general purpose registers that are each 64-bits wide and 32 floating-point/NEON registers that are each 128-bits wide.[5]
See the word "ARM" in there..... but but but they scream, Apple designs and makes their chips from scratch
We also have the people who believe Apple produces these ARM chips themselves that are designed by Apple.
At some point the pin will drop that Apple only designs the chips based on ARM architecture and has Samsung and TSMC produce them...but apart from that, it's all Apple produced and owned
A relationship that benefits Apple, ARM and the suppliers
Clearly chip design is not even remotely your area of expertise so I'll explain it to you:
Apple licenses an instruction set known as ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) which is only a contract that says that if you compile your code to produce these instructions then the hardware will understand them.
In no way does the ISA enforce a certain implementation, you could implement it however you want.
Why did Apple choose this route? Simple: There are already a ton of compiler support (http://www.linaro.org/projects/armv8/) that can generate executables for ARM ISAs so no work on getting a compiler to generate the code.
Apple's chips are completely designed by them which is why you always see their chips kicking butt in single core tests.
So to finish: buy a license to an ISA, design your own chip so you can optimize it how you see fit, pay someone else to manufacture them.
Apple probably has what ARM calls a perpetual license which provides you with the rights to design and manufacture anything you want that is ARM-based perpetually, probably costs a nice and fat paycheck though.
"ARM designs the processors that power all of Apple's iOS devices, as well as most of Samsung's smartphones"
This is very misleading. Apple designs their own processors. And they do not use ARM designs either. They use their own custom microarchitrcture, which is far more advanced than anything ARM has produced (like A57 or A72).
This is very misleading. Apple designs their own processors. And they do not use ARM designs either. They use their own custom microarchitrcture, which is far more advanced than anything ARM has produced (like A57 or A72).
It's no wonder British companies are bought right now... Thanks to the stupidity of the brexit vote the pound has lost 30% against the Yen. No wonder, or wouldn't you buy at a bargain discount of 30%? Even if they pay a bonus of 42% over market price, that would be less than 12% extra for a hostile takeover.
Brexit stupidity
No wonder, or wouldn't you buy at a bargain discount of 30%? Even if they pay a bonus of 42% over market price, that would be less than 12% extra for a hostile takeover. Brexit stupidity
right. So which part am I wrong about in regards Apple designing the ARM processors based on ARM micro architecture , and companies like Samsung / TSMC producing these for Apple?
The Beats acquisition cost Apple ten times less than this and Beats I'm sure made a profit of $450M last year—equal to ARM. But by all means blow-hards in the comments, run Apple. Meanwhile for 1/6 of that money you just lost Apple they built the most beautiful, inspiring and invaluable, ecological office campus in the world, that will be their home for the next 100 years.
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This is why this thread could be so entertaining. In their zeal to diminish Apples part in their processor design, people are going to make many false claims.
Unfortunately, chip design is not vague like style or design. So we're quickly going to find out who knows what they're talking about and who's talking out of their a$$.
Oh wait, too late. It's already happening.
Wow, this has already been explained.
Do you understand ISA versus microarchitrcture? Clearly you don't. Apple has a 100% custom microarchitrcture. That's 95% of the processor design right there. ARM contributes the other 5%, the instruction set.
Why would you exit 100%? I know nothing about the stock market, but isn't ARM a healthy company, and therefore a wise investment?
Because they didn't licence the micro-architecture, they're only licensing the ISA and they develop their own in-house micro-architecture then outsource the manufacturing to TSMC and Samsung.
No different from how it was here... you'd have to buy a "Nokia", "Motorola", "Sony", etc. charger. And quite often it was different from model to model. A real mess! It's been drastically cleaned up with the use of Micro-USB by those companies. Apple's still a standout (for their own good reasons).
Easter Europe, right next to Christmas Europe?
And then, throw in the typical juvenile watchband comments because, well, some are not just ignorant about Apple's chip design process, but feel compelled to reveal their ignorance for all to see.
That is correct. I put up my hand admit fault in what I wrote there.
It's no wonder British companies are bought right now... Thanks to the stupidity of the brexit vote the pound has lost 30% against the Yen.
Brexit stupidity
These types of deals take a long time and was far along before the brexit vote. Also, to get your claimed 30% discount, you need to start from the 5 year high in 2015. Most of that decline was before the brexit vote.
And that apparently includes whoever wrote the original new article - this bit is clearly wrong