A truly amazing programme on the wireless on Friday, on Radio 4. It was narrated by Stephen Fry, & was part 5 of a Series called “Stephen Fry On The Phone”.
See it – or should I say “hear” it – here. Or even hear here…….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017clwx/Stephen_Fry_on_the_Phone_The_Chips_inside_Smartphones/It was one of those gems – a Great British success story, but one kept pretty well hidden from public view.
Essentially, ONE Company – ARM Ltd – headquartered in Cambridge, with premises in Blackburn, Maidenhead, Sheffield, & as far afield as Shanghai & Korea, absolutely dominates the world market for “processors”.
Processors? Apparently they are the clever bits that go in Computers. And Smartphones, and the Android operating system, & i-Pads, & Play Stations, car braking systems, TV Set Top Boxes, & so on & on & on.
9 out of 10 mobile phones & smartphones worldwide have an ARM-designed processer inside them. And yet ARM don’t make ANY of them – they design the things, then allow other outfits to make them on licence, & the Company derives all of it’s considerable income from Licensing Fees & Royalties. The average licensing/royalty revenue on a regular chip would be about 8p, which does not sound much, but in 2008, they passed the 8 billionth Processor mark, & earlier this year, the 15 billionth ARM Processor was made. By someone else, of course.
The Company is incredibly profitable, too, making about £40 million per quarter, from what I gather.
Their Wiki Page left me dizzy……
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture….as did their own Home Page……
http://www.arm.com/about/company-profile/milestones.phpBut here’s the thing.
ARM was born out of Acorn Computers, back in the 80’s, them what made the BBC Micro Computer. One day, they decided they needed a better processor, & had heard of some grandly titled project in the USA called “The Berkeley (Uni?) Project”, based in Arizona. So they went across to have a look, only to find it was some solo geezer making these things in the garage of his house! So they thought, well if HE can design & make them, so can we. And they did. And so was born ARM Architecture, truly a dominant force in today’s world, & 100% British. But they don’t make the things!
We all use all this modern kit, with barely a thought to what goes into making it. How many Play Station users know – or care – what’s inside their toy?
I went a bit cross-eyed reading all that, so if anyone can fill me in with some lay language explanation, I'd appreciate it.
Below is a graphic of ARM's highly succesful Cortex Processor. But you knew that.
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