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How does ARM license the ISA? Isn’t this cloneable like the shape of an API? Intel never permitted the 586 pentium clones. Why does ARM get this veto if the
by sneak 2y ago
How does ARM license the ISA? Isn’t this cloneable like the shape of an API? Intel never permitted the 586 pentium clones. Why does ARM get this veto if the cores are developed from scratch?
I understand that in the Nuvia case they were not developed from scratch. I just don’t understand why Apple and Qualcomm don’t just remove ARM licensed tech from their chips and maintain ISA compatibility with clean room implementations.
What is stopping that?
- rcxdude 2y agoARM has patents on various parts of the ISA itself (the same applies to x86: the main difference is x86 patents are well enough split between AMD and Intel they are essentially forced to cross-license). You can't make a compatible version without a patent license at least. (And the ISAs have evolved since they were first made, with new patents involved: you can now make a very old version of an ARM core without a license, but such a chip would be irrelevant for most anything today).