Arm reportedly poised to enter the AI ​​chip market with its first product next year

Computer chip designer Arm Holdings Plc is reportedly about to enter the artificial intelligence chip market and is looking to launch its first product next year.

Arm’s move to develop its own AI chips would be part of a move by parent company SoftBank Group Corp. aiming to transform the group into a sprawling AI powerhouse. Although Arm has been publicly traded since its IPO in SeptemberSoftBank still owns about 90% of the company.

Nikkei Asia reported Today, Arm will create an AI chip division and aims to build a prototype by spring 2025, in the north of the country. Mass production, which will be outsourced to chipmakers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd., is expected to start later the same year.

Arm would shoulder initial development costs, which are expected to run into the hundreds of billions of yen – 100 billion yen at the current exchange rate is equivalent to $642 million. SoftBank is also expected to provide funds to help. According to Nikkei, once a mass production system is established, the AI ​​chip business could be split and placed under SoftBank.

Arm already provides circuit architecture for processors used in smartphones and graphics processors, but the move to design and then outsource manufacturing of AI chips would be a first for the company. Currently, Arm makes most of its money from royalties it receives every time a company makes a chip using its designs. Now, if its vision is realized, Arm will compete with these same companies.

Visions are not uncommon when it comes to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son reportedly spearheading this initiative. Son has a vision of an “AI revolution,” with SoftBank aiming to expand into data centers and robots. Its vision is to bring together AI, semiconductor and robotics technologies to drive innovation across diverse industries.

SoftBank plans to build data centers equipped with local Arm chips in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East as early as 2026. Because Son has never shied away from thinking big, SoftBank also plans to launch into the production of electricity through wind turbines and solar energy. power farms, with an eye on next-generation fusion technology to power their data centers.

While ambitious, Son’s plans are certainly feasible, but what remains unknown is whether Arm will make his designs available to its existing customers or how those customers will react to Arm’s entry into the chip market AI. SoftBank’s plans to build data centers using its own AI chips will also allow it to compete with companies like Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp., both of which currently have licenses to the circuit architecture Arm for processors.

Image: Arm