> Or Nvidia raises the license fees to crazy levels ARM was founded as a joint venture between Apple and Acorn, and Apple funded, helped design, and built thei

> Or Nvidia raises the license fees to crazy levels ARM was founded as a joint venture between Apple and Acorn, and Apple funded, helped design, and built their first joint ARM chip (the 610), and the ARMv3 architecture. I'd say they have a special relationship. They're the first licensee and like all the big names (Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung, etc.) have a far more permissive architectural license that allows them to extend the ISA or modify ARM cores as long as they comply fully with the ARM architecture. They also hold a lot of related patents. So Apple is the last company that should worry about licensing (nothing to lose), or be interested in buying ARM (nothing to gain).