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I once read on HN that Apple gets ARM ISA and designs for free by virtue of being a founder. So the closed proprietary nature isn't enough for them to move to R

I once read on HN that Apple gets ARM ISA and designs for free by virtue of being a founder. So the closed proprietary nature isn't enough for them to move to RISC V. I'm not sure that's true though..

philistine 5y ago
They probably have a very generous, very old contract by virtue of being the first third-party to use ARM in a device. But we won't know the specifics unless there's a court case that touches that relationship. With the way Apple operates, we have ten years before we can reasonably assume that they would change their architecture. Is RISC-V really going to be worth all the headaches of a transition in ten years?
- mpweiher 5y ago
  As previous posters have pointed out, Apple is not a third party. "The company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and VLSI Technology." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_Ltd.#Founding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_Ltd.#Founding More details about ARM licensing: "Finally at the top of the pyramid is an ARM architecture license. Marvell, Apple and Qualcomm are some examples of the 15 companies that have this license." https://www.anandtech.com/show/7112/the-arm-diaries-part-1-how-arms-business-model-works/3 https://www.anandtech.com/show/7112/the-arm-diaries-part-1-h...
ksec 5y ago
>I once read on HN that Apple gets ARM ISA and designs for free by virtue of being a founder. I can bet $100 on it being wrong. Especially the ARMv8 ( and v9 )