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Intel had no choice but to make this move. That is because it has failed in the mobile and embedded/IoT space, and it isn't selling enough x86 chips to keep it

Intel had no choice but to make this move. That is because it has failed in the mobile and embedded/IoT space, and it isn't selling enough x86 chips to keep its new fabs up to capacity, so it needs to also make ARM chips. That said, the economics of this are pretty uncertain. Intel's business model is to spend an enormous amount of money on process R and D and cutting-edge fabs so it can produce the most advanced chips, and charge premium prices that pay off these costs. It can charge such high prices because x86 dominated computing, and it has had little real competition in the x86 space. The ARM model, in contrast is to produce large numbers of chips at low cost for markets with many competitors and intense price competition. If Intel charges typical ARM prices, it won't be making enough money to pay for its fabs and R and D costs. If it charges premium prices, it will be more expensive than everyone else and won't sell many chips, and again won't make much money. My guess is Intel will go the latter route and make a relatively small number of premium ARM chips for the highest-end, most expensive smartphones. Better than nothing, but hardly a great success.

majewsky 10y ago
I don't expect a market for highest-end, expensive ARM SoCs. Who's gonna buy those? The few people that want an expensive smartphone just for the heck of it are buying iPhones, anyway. The interesting markets right now are China, India and the developing countries. Good luck selling highest-end expensive smartphones there.
- simonh 10y ago
  I wouldn't count iPhones out of this. The 10nm process means chips half the size of those from Samsung and TSMC. I imagine Apple will be very interested in that. They've also been trying to move completely away from Samsung for years, but TSMC doesn't have the capacity to carry all their production needs. Intel does. In terms of what in 'interesting' it depends what you are interested in. Yes all the sales growth is in low end phones, but high end phones are still selling in the hundreds of millions and still commanding decent margins, if only for Apple at least. That market isn't going away.
- msh 10y ago
  Apple could have Intel fab their arm chips that's a big deal. There are also the vr and automotive marked needing high end chips. Arm is not just phones.

majewsky 10y ago

I don't expect a market for highest-end, expensive ARM SoCs. Who's gonna buy those? The few people that want an expensive smartphone just for the heck of it are buying iPhones, anyway. The interesting markets right now are China, India and the developing countries. Good luck selling highest-end expensive smartphones there.

simonh 10y ago
I wouldn't count iPhones out of this. The 10nm process means chips half the size of those from Samsung and TSMC. I imagine Apple will be very interested in that. They've also been trying to move completely away from Samsung for years, but TSMC doesn't have the capacity to carry all their production needs. Intel does. In terms of what in 'interesting' it depends what you are interested in. Yes all the sales growth is in low end phones, but high end phones are still selling in the hundreds of millions and still commanding decent margins, if only for Apple at least. That market isn't going away.
msh 10y ago
Apple could have Intel fab their arm chips that's a big deal. There are also the vr and automotive marked needing high end chips. Arm is not just phones.