How does a company with an annual revenue of less than 2 billion US dollars get stuck with apple, Samsung, Huawei and Qualcomm

杨晓

Yang Xiao

线条编辑器

Editor Lina

奇普，我们国家的命脉。

Chip, the lifeblood of our country.

这个小广场成了科技巨头们的致命弱点。

This small square has become the Achilles heel of the technology giants.

2021年，36氪发射了"核心之旅"系列工业观测。本系列将对半导体产业的上下游进行全面深入的研究，包括不断突破摩尔定律极限的制造业巨头、设备供应商、材料供应商、芯片设计企业等。希望我们的内容能为一直以来"缺乏核心"的中国产业提供一些借鉴。

In 2021, 36 krypton launched the "core journey" series of industry observation. This series will conduct a comprehensive and in-depth research on the upstream and downstream of the semiconductor industry, including manufacturing giants, equipment suppliers, material suppliers, and chip design enterprises that constantly break through the limits of Moore's law. I hope our content can provide some reference for China's industry, which has been plagued by "lack of core".

这是36氪星"核心之旅"系列中的第七个，请欣赏。

This is the seventh in the 36 krypton "journey to the core" series, enjoy.

从2020年到现在，arm一直处于风口浪尖，先是迎来了arm和arm中国的换帅浪潮；后来英伟达宣布收购arm，引起了全行业的抵制和不满。

From 2020 to now, arm has been on the cusp of the storm, first came the wave of changing the commander of arm and arm China; Later, yingweida announced the acquisition of arm, which caused resistance and dissatisfaction in the whole industry.

2021年，困扰整个it界的arm仍在大步制作一系列官方宣传产品。就在几天前的5月25日，arm还发布了三款CPU和三款GPU核心设计，为arm笔记本、高端手机处理器、智能手表等产品提供了新的解决方案。

In 2021, arm, which disturbs the whole it world, is still making a series of official publicity products with great pace. Just a few days ago, on May 25, arm also released three CPU and three GPU core designs, providing new solutions for arm notebook, high-end mobile phone processor, smart watch and other products.

Arm是一家"小公司"，今年的收入不超过20亿美元。但arm也是一家"大公司"。从苹果到三星，从华为到高通，全球90%以上的手机芯片都有自己的技术，这几乎卡在了世界的"脖子"上。

Arm is a "small company" with revenue of no more than $2 billion this year. But arm is also a "big company". From apple to Samsung, from Huawei to Qualcomm, more than 90% of mobile phone chips in the world have its technology, which is almost stuck in the "neck" of the world.

随着公司业务的不断拓展，如今，arm的影响力已先后进入手机、电脑、数据中心、物联网、自动驾驶等不同领域。包含ARM技术的芯片总数已经超过1900亿个，它们可以绕地球25圈。

With the expansion of the company's business, today, the influence of arm has successively entered different fields such as mobile phone, computer, data center, Internet of things, automatic driving and so on. The total number of chips containing ARM technology has shipped more than 190 billion, and they can circle the earth 25 times.

本文将回顾arm的发展历程，看看这家以赌博机电脑系统起家的公司，是如何发展成为一个躲在产品底部的隐形王者，以及为什么一次次被迫自我推销，陷入长期动荡。

This article will look back on the development of arm and see how this company, which started with gambling machine computer system, has developed into an invisible King hiding in the bottom of its products, and why it has been forced to sell itself again and again and has fallen into a long-term turmoil.

你好，世界，我是手臂

Hello World，I am Arm

1979年，赫尔曼·豪瑟和刚从剑桥大学毕业的克里斯·克里在英国成立了acorn电脑公司，这是arm的前身。

In 1979, Herman Hauser and Chris Kerry, who just graduated from Cambridge University, established acorn computer company in Britain, which is the predecessor of arm.

三年前，比尔·盖茨创建了微软，史蒂夫·乔布斯创建了苹果公司，Acorn成立了。这些将在未来IT行业消费市场占据主导地位的企业开始出现在历史舞台上。

Acorn was founded three years ago when Bill Gates founded Microsoft and Steve Jobs founded apple. These companies, which will dominate the consumer market of IT industry in the future, begin to appear on the stage of history.

1982年，英国广播公司播出了纪录片《强大的微处理》，引起了巨大的轰动。这部纪录片向英国观众介绍了计算机时代的到来。为了鼓励人们学习电脑，英国广播公司想推出一款英国制造的设备，价格适中，适合电脑爱好者。

In 1982, the BBC broadcast the documentary "powerful micro processing", which produced a huge sensation. This documentary introduces the coming of the computer age to the British audience. In order to encourage people to learn about computers, the BBC wants to launch a British made device with moderate price for computer lovers.

剑桥的橡子接受了订单。橡子把微型计算机命名为BBC micro。令人惊讶的是，BBC micro卖得很好，成为当时最受欢迎的电脑设备之一，销量从预期的1.2万台飙升至150万台。1984年，BBC micro还获得了英国科技桂冠——女王科技奖。

Acorn of Cambridge took the order. Acorn named the microcomputer BBC micro. Surprisingly, the BBC micro sold well and became one of the most popular computer devices at that time, with the sales volume soaring from the expected 12000 to 1.5 million. In 1984, the BBC micro also won the Queen's technology award, the laurel of science and technology in the UK.

万维网还没有出现。它既不能与人实时通信，也不能检索信息。然而，这是人类生产力的一次飞跃。当时，它可以进行简单的文字处理、表格计算，以及早期的音乐编排软件和图像处理软件。

The world wide web has not yet appeared. It can neither communicate with people in real time nor retrieve information. However, it is a great leap of human productivity. At that time, it could carry out simple word processing, table calculation, as well as the early music arrangement software and image processing software.

acorn创建的BBC micro主要面向国内学校客户和电脑爱好者，市场空间不大。

The BBC micro created by acorn is mainly for domestic school customers and computer enthusiasts, with little market space.

相比之下，商业市场有更大的市场容量和想象力。当时，IBM的第二代微型计算机在商业市场上简直是水到渠成。橡子准备搬家，想出了这个大蛋糕的主意。

In contrast, the commercial market has a larger market volume and imagination. At that time, IBM's second-generation microcomputer was just like a duck to water in the commercial market. Acorn was ready to move and came up with the idea of this big cake.

Acorn的商用计算机设计需要第二个处理器来与BBC微平台协同工作。不过，acorn认为BBC micro上使用的MOSTEC 6502处理器无法承担这项繁重的任务，但他们还没有找到替代芯片。Acorn对英特尔的286芯片情有独钟，但英特尔拒绝合作。

Acorn's commercial computer design requires a second processor to work with the BBC micro platform. However, acorn believes that the MOSTEC 6502 processor used on BBC micro can not undertake this heavy task, but they have not found a replacement chip. Acorn has a crush on Intel's 286 chip, but Intel refuses to cooperate.

然而，橡实走上了自主研发处理器的道路。但正是这一看似微不足道的决定，标志着橡实未来全球主导地位的开始。

However, acorn embarked on the road of self-developed processor. But it is this seemingly insignificant decision that marks the beginning of acorn's future global dominance.

由于资源匮乏，为了避免与英特尔、IBM等巨头的竞争，acorn选择了RISC技术路线（精简指令集）。与Intel主导的x86架构相比，acorn不仅开发难度低，而且成本低、性能低、功耗低。

Due to the lack of resources, in order to avoid competition with Intel, IBM and other giants, acorn chose RISC technology route (reduced instruction set). Compared with Intel led x86 architecture, acorn not only has low development difficulty, but also has low cost, low performance and low power consumption.

1983年10月，arm正式启动芯片开发。经过18个月的研发和测试，acorn在VLSI公司生产了第一款采用RISC指令集的arm芯片。这个"arm"不是arm公司，而是acorn RISC机器的缩写。

In October 1983, arm officially launched chip development. After 18 months of R & D and testing, acorn produced the first arm chip using RISC instruction set in VLSI company. This "arm" is not arm company, but the acronym of acorn RISC Machine.

1985年4月26日下午3点，第一批arm芯片投入开发系统，屏幕上出现了"你好，世界，我是arm"的字样。世界上第一个商用RISC处理器arm1成功运行。

At 3:00 p.m. on April 26, 1985, the first batch of arm chips were put into the development system, and the words "Hello world, I am arm" appeared on the screen. The world's first commercial RISC processor arm1 ran successfully.

首先，该arm1芯片主要作为BBC micro协处理器的仿真软件来运行芯片开发。它还用于支持芯片（VIDc、IOC、MEMC）的开发，并加速arm2 CAD软件的开发。

At first, this arm1 chip was mainly used as the simulation software for BBC micro's coprocessor to run the chip development. It was also used to support the development of chips (VIDc, IOC, MEMC) and to accelerate the development of CAD software for arm2.

芯片的成功鼓励了acron的研发团队朝着商业化的方向努力。

The success of the chip has encouraged the R & D team of acron to work hard towards commercialization.

然而，谁也没想到，在处理器芯片研发成功前一年，家用电脑市场突然崩盘，家用电子游戏机和家用电脑公司雅达利（Atari）被卖掉，苹果电脑濒临破产，橡子的生活非常艰难。

However, no one expected that a year before the success of processor chip research and development, the home computer market suddenly collapsed, home video game machine and home computer company Atari (Atari) were sold, apple computer was on the verge of bankruptcy, and acorn's life was very difficult.

在此之前，由于供应商缺乏生产能力和技术，橡实一直受到产能问题的困扰。例如，1983年，acorn赢得了30万份订单，但供应商只提供了3万台机器。最后，在1994年，供应商的生产能力上来了，家用电脑市场崩溃，销量骤降。橡子突然累积了25万台机器。

Before that, acorn had been plagued by capacity problems due to the lack of production capacity and technology of suppliers. For example, in 1983, acorn won 300000 orders, but the suppliers only supplied 30000 machines. Finally, in 1994, the supplier's production capacity came up, the home computer market collapsed, and the sales volume plummeted. Acorn suddenly accumulated 250000 machines.

同一时期，acorn还在处理器研发方面投入了大量资金，acorn出现了严重的现金流问题。

During the same period, acorn also invested a lot of money in processor research and development, and acorn had serious cash flow problems.

1985年，acorn不得不将其一半的股权以1200万英镑的价格转让给意大利的olivetti电脑公司，以偿还债务。

In 1985, acorn had to transfer half of its equity to olivetti computer company in Italy for 12 million pounds to repay its debt.

在被奥利维蒂拥有后，acorn宣布将停止在美国市场的销售，并将在美国剩余的BBC微型计算机出售给一家墨西哥公司。

After it was owned by olivetti, acorn announced that it would stop sales in the U.S. market and sell the remaining BBC microcomputers in the U.S. to a Mexican company.

到1990年，苹果正在为一个代号为Newton的项目寻找低功耗处理器。这个产品是世界上第一台平板电脑。它对功耗、成本和全静态运行有很高的性能要求。Acorn的arm处理器是市场上唯一能够满足苹果要求的芯片。

By 1990, Apple was looking for low-power processors for a project code named Newton. This product is the first tablet computer in the world. It has high performance requirements for power consumption, cost and full static operation. Acorn's arm processor is the only chip on the market that can meet Apple's requirements.

第一阶段，从1993年到2006年，在IP授权的商业模式下，arm的RISC处理器逐渐被大量芯片制造商和手机公司采用。

In the first stage, from 1993 to 2006, under the business model of IP licensing, arm's RISC processor was gradually adopted by a large number of chip manufacturers and mobile phone companies.

1993年，arm推出了新的ARM7处理器内核。arm过去产品的厄运似乎在为这款产品积累力量。基于Arm7的arm7tdmi已经成为一个明星作品。本产品基于32位微处理器，采用拇指指令集，代码密度提高35%，内存消耗仅相当于16位处理器。

In 1993, arm launched a new ARM7 processor core. The bad luck of arm's past products seems to be accumulating strength for this product. Arm7-tdmi based on ARM7 has become a star work. This product is based on 32-bit microprocessor and equipped with thumb instruction set, which increases the code density by 35%, and the memory consumption is only equivalent to that of 16 bit processor.

同年，arm在意识到不能仅仅依靠单个产品的开发后，提出了IP授权的商业模式：arm只向客户提供处理器授权，不直接提供芯片产品；芯片制造商可以通过支付前期的许可费和后期的专利费来获得ARM处理器的许可证。

In the same year, after realizing that we can't only rely on the development of individual products, arm proposed the business model of IP authorization: arm only provides processor authorization to customers, not directly provides chip products; The chip manufacturer can obtain the license of ARM processor by paying the license fee in the early stage and the patent fee in the later stage.

arm提供的业务只是向外界出售芯片设计图纸。苹果、三星、高通、华为和联发科购买了arm的图纸，并添加了他们自己的修改设计来制造自己的芯片。

The business provided by arm is simply to sell chip design drawings to the outside world. Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm, Huawei and MediaTek bought the drawings of arm and added their own modified designs to create their own chips.

IP授权有三种：体系结构授权、pop（processor Optimization Pack）和处理器使用授权。

There are three kinds of IP authorization: Architecture authorization, pop (processor Optimization Pack) and processor usage authorization.

架构授权是指合作伙伴可以根据arm架构设计处理器；

Architecture authorization means that the partner can design the processor according to the arm architecture;

Pop意味着arm将为合作伙伴提供优化的处理器，以方便客户在特定流程下设计和生产性能有保证的处理器；

Pop means that arm will provide optimized processors for partners to facilitate customers to design and produce processors with guaranteed performance under specific processes;

处理器授权意味着厂商不能改变原有设计，只能调整产品频率、功耗等，自由度较低。

Processor licensing means that the manufacturer can not change the original design, but can only adjust the product frequency, power consumption, etc., with low degree of freedom.

与英特尔包罗万象、封闭的产品逻辑相比，arm只设计底层的ISA，让手机厂商和芯片厂商有足够的自由，可以根据自己的需求设计自己的产品。对于苹果、三星等一线品牌来说，优化芯片设计、突出手机特点是优化手机性能的必然追求，arm此举可谓利好之举。

Compared with Intel's all inclusive and closed product logic, arm only designs the underlying ISA, giving mobile phone manufacturers and chip manufacturers enough freedom to design their own products according to their needs. For apple, Samsung and other first-line brands, optimizing the chip design and highlighting the characteristics of mobile phones is an inevitable pursuit of optimizing the performance of mobile phones, and arm's move can be described as a positive one.

这种模式使得arm指令集在手机市场上迅速普及。

This mode makes arm's instruction set quickly spread in the mobile phone market.

德州仪器率先用该处理器构建芯片，验证了arm IP授权商业模式的可行性，并认可arm产品。

Texas Instruments took the lead in building a chip with this processor, which verified the feasibility of arm IP licensing business model and endorsed arm products.

到1994年，Ti已经说服其下游客户诺基亚加入。通过与诺基亚的合作，arm还发明了16位拇指指令集。当年诺基亚使用的6110手机采用arm架构，成为第一款采用arm处理器的GSM手机。

By 1994, Ti had convinced its downstream customer Nokia to go on board. Through cooperation with Nokia, arm has also invented a 16 bit thumb instruction set. Nokia used 6110 mobile phone with arm architecture in that year, becoming the first GSM mobile phone with ARM processor.

这款手机也是arm IP授权在消费电子领域推广的开始。

This mobile phone is also the beginning of the promotion of arm IP authorization in the field of consumer electronics.

此后，高通、飞思卡尔、Dec等公司相继加入arm-7授权阵营，超过170家授权公司和超过100亿片芯片使用arm-7，arm-7已成为arm在移动处理器领域的旗舰系列。

Since then, Qualcomm, Freescale, Dec and other companies have successively joined the arm-7 licensing camp, with more than 170 authorized companies and more than 10 billion chips using arm-7. Arm-7 has become arm's flagship series in mobile processors.

1995年，ARM7也引起了服务器领域处理器巨头Dec的注意。在arm授权的基础上，Dec设计了一种新的处理器架构strong arm，并于次年2月发布了sa110处理器。

In 1995, ARM7 also attracted the attention of Dec, a processor giant in the server field. On the basis of arm authorization, Dec designed a new processor architecture, strong arm, and released sa110 processor in February of the next year.

在Dec的帮助下，ARM处理器得到了前所未有的关注。采用185dmips的160MHz处理器功耗小于500MW，引起了工业界和学术界的广泛关注。

With the help of Dec, ARM processor gets unprecedented attention. The 160MHz processor with 185 DMIPS consumes less than 500MW, which has attracted the attention of industry and academia.

1997年，Dec被英特尔收购。英特尔获得了strong arm的使用权和相应的arm许可证，并将其开发成为黑莓、palm Treo和摩托罗拉q系列手机的RISC处理器产品线；英特尔还将strong arm升级到Xscale，并为其生产配套芯片，为arm处理器的发展做出了贡献。

In 1997, Dec was acquired by Intel. Intel obtained the right to use strong arm and the corresponding license from arm, and developed it into its RISC processor product line for BlackBerry, palm Treo and Motorola q series mobile phones; Intel also upgraded strong arm to Xscale, and produced supporting chips for it, contributing to the development of ARM processor.

值得一提的是，arm8赶上了strong arm的发布，而arm10赶上了Xscale的发布。两个芯片的效果不好。然而，1997年ARM9的发布标志着ARM处理器正式进入微处理器领域，成为ARM的里程碑式产品。

It is worth mentioning that arm8 has caught up with the release of strong arm, while arm10 has caught up with the release of Xscale. The effect of the two chips is not good. However, the release of ARM9 in 1997 marks that ARM processor has officially entered the field of microprocessor and become a milestone product of arm.

在很短的时间内，arm并没有得到任何好处，但在英特尔放弃arm架构产品后，Dec和英特尔所奠定的土地最终落入arm手中。

In a short time, arm did not get any benefits, but after Intel gave up its arm architecture products, the land laid by Dec and Intel finally fell to arm.

1998年4月17日，arm在伦敦证券交易所和美国纳斯达克上市，每股价格为5.75英镑（纳斯达克发行价为29.17美元），市值为2.64亿英镑。仅仅一年半之后，arm在伦敦证券交易所的富时100指数上市。

On April 17, 1998, arm was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in the United States, with a price of 5.75 pounds per share (NASDAQ issue price of 29.17 dollars), and a market value of 264 million pounds. Just a year and a half later, arm was listed on the FTSE 100 index of the London Stock Exchange.

第二阶段是2006年以后，随着智能手机和googleandroid系统的发展，arm的功能越来越强大，最终垄断了整个手机市场。

The second stage is after 2006. With the development of smart phones and Google Android system, arm becomes more and more powerful, and finally monopolizes the whole mobile phone market.

自2005年以来，arm进一步完善了其产品。

Since 2005, arm has further refined its products.

Arm意识到，除了ARM9的高端处理器市场，还有一个低成本、低功耗的微控制器市场。它提出了cortex产品线，并将处理器架构分为cortex-a用于高性能，cortex-r用于实时控制场景，cortex-M用于微控制器市场。产品进一步精制。

Arm realizes that in addition to the high-end processor market of ARM9, there is a low-cost and low-power microcontroller market. It proposes a cortex product line, and divides the processor architecture into cortex-a for high performance, cortex-r for real-time control scenarios, and Cortex-M for microcontroller market. The products are further refined.

2006年，英特尔放弃了移动芯片业务，从此再也没有涉足手机领域的处理器架构之争。

In 2006, Intel gave up the mobile chip business, and has never been in the battle of processor architecture in the mobile phone field since then.

当时，英特尔遭遇危机，业绩陷入低谷，PC业务遭到老对手AMD的猛烈攻击。为了维持PC市场，时任英特尔CEO的巴雷特决定放弃移动芯片市场。英特尔进行了史上最大规模的裁员，切断了当时似乎不赚钱的移动通信业务，并在6月份将Xscale的通信和应用处理器业务出售给了Marvell。

At that time, Intel suffered a crisis, its performance fell into a low ebb, and its PC business was fiercely attacked by its old rival AMD. In order to maintain the PC market, the then CEO of Intel, Mr. Barrett, decided to abandon the mobile chip market. Intel made the largest layoff in history, cut off the mobile communication business that didn't seem to make money at that time, and sold Xscale's communication and application processor business to Marvell in June.

2007年，苹果推出跨时代产品iPhone，开启了智能手机时代。第一代iPhone采用了arm设计、三星制造的芯片。第二年，谷歌推出了同样基于arm指令集的Android系统。

In 2007, Apple launched the cross era product iPhone, which opened the era of smart phones. The first generation of iPhone adopted chips designed by arm and manufactured by Samsung. The next year, Google launched the Android system, which is also based on the arm instruction set.

IOS和Android都是基于ARM指令集设计的，它将全球软件应用厂商与ARM指令集绑定在一起。Arm在手机领域具有绝对的生态优势。苹果、高通、英伟达、微软、亚马逊、安培计算、华为等客户都是arm阵营的成员。

Both IOS and Android are designed based on ARM instruction set, which binds global software application manufacturers with arm instruction set. Arm has absolute ecological advantages in the field of mobile phone. Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon, ampere computing, Huawei and other customers are all members of the arm camp.

当英特尔在2008年稳定了个人电脑市场，并希望开发带有英特尔邦内尔微处理器架构的atom以重启移动芯片市场时，它已经错过了时间窗口。

When Intel stabilized the PC market in 2008 and wanted to develop atom with Intel Bonnell microprocessor architecture to restart the mobile chip market, it had already missed the time window.

到2011年，arm在手机市场的份额已经超过90%，颠覆了英特尔主导的处理器市场。

By 2011, arm's share in the mobile phone market had exceeded 90%, subverting Intel's dominant processor market.

2016年，英特尔全面关闭atom生产线；2019年，随着高通与苹果达成和解，英特尔将向苹果出售5g业务，并完全退出移动基带市场。

In 2016, Intel completely closed its atom production line; In 2019, with the settlement between Qualcomm and apple, Intel will sell 5g business to apple and completely withdraw from the mobile baseband market.

寻找第二条增长曲线

Looking for the second growth curve

Arm靠收取执照费谋生。虽然它在手机市场中占比较高的比重，但全球手机市场几乎停滞不前。Arm必须找到新的增长点。

Arm earns a living by charging licensing fees. Although it accounts for a relatively high proportion in the mobile phone market, the global mobile phone market is almost stagnant. Arm must find a new growth point.

Arm首先专注于PC市场。

Arm first focused on the PC market.

2010年，英特尔入侵手机领域，原本以为可以安居乐业的arm感到被冒犯，开始逆向进入PC市场。

In 2010, when Intel invaded the mobile phone field, arm, who thought it could live in peace, felt offended and began to enter the PC market in the reverse direction.

arm前总裁图多尔布朗（TudorBrown）表示："英特尔想蚕食电脑和手机市场。我们要说不！为什么我不能直接进入PC市场，当它进入我的领域？"

Tudor brown, former president of arm, said: "Intel wants to eat the computer and mobile market. We want to say no! Why can't I go directly to the PC market when it enters my territory? "

英特尔在芯片研发、设计和制造领域的强势地位给公司各部门带来了压力。当arm首席执行官Warren East表示"我们希望在未来12个月的服务器市场上看到一些东西"时，传统的、封闭的PC生态系统被打开，arm吸引了IBM、戴尔和其他计算机制造商的注意。

Intel's strong position in chip R & D, design and manufacturing has put pressure on all sectors of the company. When Warren East, CEO of arm, said that "we hope to see something in the server market in the next 12 months", the traditional and closed PC ecosystem was opened up, and arm attracted the attention of IBM, Dell and other computer manufacturers.

与arm合作的第一步是微软。

The first step in the cooperation with arm is Microsoft.

在采用arm架构的苹果iPad失火之后，微软觊觎平板电脑。

After the fire of Apple iPad with arm architecture, Microsoft coveted tablet computer.

2011年，微软在CES上推出了基于32位arm架构的PC操作系统WindowsRT；次年6月，微软在洛杉矶推出了windowsrt操作系统surface-RT，这是一款集笔记本电脑和平板电脑于一体的产品。

In 2011, Microsoft launched windows RT, a PC operating system based on 32-bit arm architecture, at CES; In June of the next year, Microsoft launched the windows RT operating system surface RT in Los Angeles, a product that combines laptop and tablet forms.

显然，"砖头"电脑不会引起顾客的注意。表面RT产品只发布了两代，然后停止生产。

Obviously, the "brick" computer won't attract customers' attention. The surface RT product was only released for two generations and then stopped production.

微软损失了9亿美元。但这并没有阻止微软的尝试。

Microsoft lost $900 million. But that didn't stop Microsoft from trying.

2016年，微软开始了第二次转向arm的尝试，宣布windows 10将全面支持arm生态系统。

In 2016, Microsoft started its second attempt to turn to arm, announcing that windows 10 will fully support the arm ecosystem.

与上一次相比，微软此时并没有那么极端。windows10可以通过模拟器运行Win32程序，这样电脑购买者就可以拥有可用的软件产品。但是，Windows10不支持运行64位程序的软件。2017年推出的华硕novago和惠普envy x2是基于高通snapdragon 835平台的windows 10产品。这两种产品的电池寿命可以超过一天。

Compared with the last time, Microsoft was not so extreme at this time. Windows 10 can run the Win32 program through the simulator, so that computer buyers can have software products available. However, windows 10 does not support software running 64 bit programs. ASUS novago and HP envy x2 launched in 2017 are windows 10 products based on Qualcomm snapdragon 835 platform. The battery life of these two products can exceed one day.

windows10与arm成功结合，arm在进入PC市场方面取得了阶段性胜利。

Windows 10 is successfully combined with arm, and arm has won a phased victory in entering the PC market.

在这里，手臂不是空闲的。2018年，arm推出cortex-a76核心，被称为"可与低压核心i5媲美"。高通公司还推出了基于该芯片的snapdragon 8cx处理器，并与联想、惠普等计算机行业巨头联手打造了一个新的电脑品类"always connect PC"，但不会赢得太多。

Here, arm is not idle. In 2018, arm launched the cortex-a76 core, which is known as "comparable to the low-voltage core i5". Qualcomm also launched snapdragon 8cx processor based on this chip, and combined with Lenovo, HP and other computer industry giants to create a new computer category "always connect PC", but it won't win a lot.

尽管arm在操作系统、芯片和计算机厂商都做了充分的准备，但还没有一款强大的产品问世。整个行业对于推出基于ARM架构的高性能芯片仍然犹豫不决。

Although arm has made sufficient preparations in operating system, chip and computer manufacturers, there will not be a powerful product. The whole industry is still hesitant to launch high-performance chips based on ARM architecture.

2020年，苹果M1芯片和基于M1的MacBook将向全行业展示arm架构作为高性能芯片的潜力。

In 2020, Apple's M1 chip and M1 based MacBook will show the whole industry the potential of arm architecture as a high-performance chip.

同年12月，微软再次踏上了推广arm的道路，推出了基于arm架构的Windows10操作系统，兼容64位x86应用。Surface Pro X和其他使用ARM架构处理器的设备将正式支持完整的代码系统，包括arm32、arm64、x86和x64。

In December of the same year, Microsoft ran on the road of promoting arm again, and launched a Windows 10 operating system based on ARM architecture, which is compatible with 64 bit x86 applications. Surface Pro X and other devices using ARM architecture processor will officially support the complete code system including arm32, arm64, x86 and x64.

arm的cortex-x1内核以及微软在操作系统上的动作，意味着2012年以来基于arm架构的windows设备在软件兼容性和实用性方面的不足可以得到弥补。

The cortex-x1 core of arm and the action of Microsoft on the operating system mean that the deficiencies in software compatibility and practicability of windows devices based on ARM architecture since 2012 can be made up.

arm运作多年的PC市场终于可以看到曙光了。

The PC market, which arm has been working for many years, can finally see the dawn.

除了PC市场，数据中心也是arm长期觊觎的领域。

In addition to PC market, data center is also an area that arm has been coveting for a long time.

自2011年以来，arm公司一直试图进入服务器市场。Cavium、高通、AMD、华鑫通半导体等国内外企业纷纷与arm合作进入服务器市场，但均以失败告终。

Since 2011, arm company has tried to enter the server market. Cavium, Qualcomm, AMD, huaxintong semiconductor and other domestic and foreign companies have cooperated with arm to enter the server market, and all failed.

Cavium的armv8服务器芯片thunderx（2014年推出）存在低负载、高功耗的问题；在推出centriq 2400服务器（2017年推出）仅半年后，高通公司就退出了服务器市场；AMD的Opteron A1100服务器（2014年推出）反应平淡；华鑫通半导体推出"龙4800"（2018年推出），但在高通退出服务器市场后，高通投资的公司倒闭。

The armv8 server chip thunderx (launched in 2014) of Cavium has the problem of low load but high power consumption; Only half a year after the delivery of the centriq 2400 server (launched in 2017), Qualcomm withdrew from the server market; AMD's Opteron A1100 server (launched in 2014) had a flat response; Huaxintong semiconductor launched the "dragon 4800" (which was launched in 2018), but after Qualcomm withdrew from the server market, the company invested by Qualcomm closed down.

2018年，arm为这些数据中心推出了首个专用IP—neoverse，一款云到边缘基础设施产品，并开始了在数据中心处理器市场的第二次进军。

In 2018, arm launched its first dedicated IP for these data centers - neoverse, a cloud to edge infrastructure product, and started its second march in the data center processor market.

此后，许多面向基础设施市场的芯片设计企业纷纷推出基于neoverse的芯片产品，云计算厂商也开始推出基于ARM架构的自主研发芯片。亚马逊云AWS推出graviton处理器（2018年推出），华为云推出"hi1620"arm服务器计算芯片（2018年推出），即昆鹏920的arm服务器芯片。据彭博社援引内部人士的话说，到2020年底，微软还将为azure云服务器准备arm芯片

Since then, many chip design enterprises for the infrastructure market have launched chip products based on neoverse, and cloud computing manufacturers have begun to launch self-developed chips based on ARM architecture. Amazon cloud AWS launched graviton processor (launched in 2018), Huawei cloud launched "hi1620" arm server computing chip (launched in 2018), which is Kunpeng 920's arm server chip. At the end of 2020, Microsoft is also preparing arm chips for azure cloud servers, according to insiders quoted by Bloomberg

然而，10多年来，英特尔几乎是全球服务器市场上唯一的CPU供应商，其市场份额早已超过90%。AMD的epyc（小龙）服务器芯片令英特尔市场下滑，但AMD也采用x86架构。

However, for more than 10 years, Intel is almost the only CPU supplier in the global server market, and its market share has exceeded 90% for a long time. AMD's epyc (Xiaolong) server chip makes Intel's market decline, but amd also adopts x86 architecture.

AMR要想在服务器市场发展，还需要弥补生态的空缺。

If AMR wants to develop in the server market, it still needs to make up for the ecological vacancy.

除了移动设备和服务器，arm还将物联网视为未来一个很有前途的发展空间。

In addition to mobile devices and servers, arm also regards the Internet of things as a promising development space in the future.

物联网的应用需要低成本、低功耗的芯片。arm架构的低功耗特性非常适合物联网的市场需求。软银以320亿美元收购孙正义和arm，正是物联网领域的发展空间。

The application of Internet of things needs low-cost and low-power chips. The low-power characteristics of arm architecture are very suitable for the market demand of Internet of things. Softbank's acquisition of sun Zhengyi and its acquisition of arm with us $32 billion are exactly the development space in the field of Internet of things.

Arm在2013年拥有物联网事业部，同年8月，Arm收购了芬兰物联网软件初创公司sensinode，引领6LoWPAN开发低成本、低功耗设备标准，并在物联网市场布局。

Arm had the Internet of things business unit in 2013. In August of that year, arm acquired sensinode, a Finnish Internet of things software start-up company, which led 6LoWPAN to develop the standard of low-cost and low-power equipment, and made its layout in the Internet of things market.

到2018年，arm布局物联网的步伐将开始加快，收购和产品发布同步推进：6月，购物互联网连接管理技术公司stream technologies将关闭；8月份，我们通过收购数据分析公司宝数据，获得了连接管理能力和对大量第三方分散孤立数据的汇总分析能力。当年，arm还先后发布了Pelion物联网平台和物联网操作系统mbed Linux操作系统，形成了芯片IP、操作系统和云平台服务的完整产品体系。

By 2018, the pace of arm's layout of the Internet of things will start to accelerate, and the acquisition and product release will be promoted simultaneously: in June, stream technologies, a shopping Internet connection management technology company, will be closed; In August, we acquired the ability of connection management and the ability to aggregate and analyze a large number of third-party scattered and isolated data through the acquisition of data analysis company treasure data. In that year, arm also successively released Pelion Internet of things platform and Internet of things operating system mbed Linux OS, forming a complete product system of chip IP, operating system and cloud platform services.

根据arm公司2017年的一份PPT，基于arm架构设计的物联网设备控制器占比高达90%。

According to a PPT of arm company in 2017, 90% of IOT device controllers designed based on ARM architecture have a high share.

然而，arm在物联网领域的发展并不顺利。物联网市场发展速度不如预期，市场难以一下子做大。孙正义曾预测，到2025年，物联网市场规模将达到11万亿美元，但IDC数据显示，到2020年，全球物联网市场规模仅为1.36万亿美元。

However, the development of arm in the field of Internet of things is not smooth. The development speed of the Internet of things market is not as fast as expected, so it is difficult for the market to become bigger all at once. Sun Zhengyi once predicted that the scale of the Internet of things market will reach 11 trillion US dollars by 2025, but IDC data shows that the scale of the global Internet of things market will only reach 1.36 trillion US dollars by 2020.

此外，risc-v与指令集体系结构一样，也是虎视眈眈的。凭借其开源特性和架构优势，许多业内人士认为它可以在aiot时代取得巨大成就。risc-v的领先制造商Sifive与IP制造商CEVA合作，为智能家居、汽车、机器人、安防、增强现实、工业和物联网开发了一系列边缘智能SOC。这正是arm物联网关注的领域。

In addition, risc-v, the same as the instruction set architecture, is covetous. With its open source features and architecture advantages, many people in the industry feel that it can make great achievements in the aiot era. Sifive, a leading manufacturer of risc-v, cooperates with CEVA, an IP manufacturer, to develop a series of edge intelligent SOC for smart home, automobile, robot, security, augmented reality, industry and Internet of things. This is exactly the field focused by arm Internet of things.

自动驾驶领域是arm的最新领域。2018年12月，arm正式宣布进入自动驾驶领域。

The field of automatic driving is the latest field of arm. In December 2018, arm officially announced its entry into the field of automatic driving.

到目前为止，基于arm的各种芯片，如高通、德州仪器、NXP、瑞萨等，也在大量的车机芯片中推出。

Up to now, many kinds of chips based on arm, such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, NXP and Renesas, have also been launched in a large number of car machine chips.

Arm预计，到2029年，其可参与的市场空间将达到2320亿美元，而目前收入不到20亿美元的Arm，离上限还有无限的空间。

Arm predicts that by 2029, the market space it can participate in will reach US $232 billion, while arm, which currently earns less than US $2 billion, still has endless space from the ceiling.

战乱中的武装

Arm in turmoil

没有人对arm的性能感到满意。

No one is satisfied with the performance of arm.

2017年至2019年，arm收入分别为18.31亿美元、18.36亿美元和18.98亿美元，增长不大。

From 2017 to 2019, arm's revenue was US $1.831 billion, US $1.836 billion and US $1.898 billion respectively, with little growth.

由于arm已经退市，到2020年很难看到它的收入，而AMD、NVIDIA和Intel在2020年的收入分别为97.6亿美元、166.75亿美元和779亿美元，远远落后。

As arm has been delisted, it is difficult to see its revenue in 2020, while the revenue of AMD, NVIDIA and Intel in 2020 are respectively US $9.76 billion, US $16.675 billion and US $77.9 billion, which is far behind.

为了收购arm，孙正义先后变卖了阿里巴巴、群豪、超细胞的股权，使arm于2016年9月6日从伦敦证券交易所退市，完成私有化。

In order to acquire arm, sun Zhengyi successively sold off the holdings of Alibaba, gungho and supercell, so that arm delisted from the London Stock Exchange on September 6, 2016 and completed the privatization.

然而，仅仅四年后的2020年9月，软银再次宣布将出售arm，英伟达宣布将接管。此时，孙正义对arm的态度已经从思考10年来"一生中最重要的交易"转变为急于摆脱arm。值得一提的是，该交易不包括arm的物联网服务业务组。

However, only four years later, in September 2020, Softbank once again announced that it was about to sell arm, and NVIDIA announced that it would take over. At this time, sun Zhengyi's attitude towards arm has changed from thinking about "the most important transaction in his life" for 10 years to eager to get rid of it. It is worth mentioning that the transaction does not include arm's IOT service business group.

单从英伟达和arm的角度来看，这笔交易确实是一笔不错的交易。

From the point of view of NVIDIA and arm alone, this deal is really a good one.

Arm采用IP授权模式，这意味着如果不能扩展到其他市场，只有在市场空间停滞多年的手机和个人电脑市场，Arm的收入总会呈现这种几乎零增长的小而美的局面。

Arm adopts the IP authorization mode, which means that if it can not expand to other markets, only in the mobile phone and personal computer market, where the market space has stagnated for many years, arm's revenue will always present this small and beautiful situation with almost zero growth.

NVIDIA比GPU更好。目前，数据中心普遍采用Intel CPU+NVIDIA GPU。Arm比CPU架构更好。一旦NVIDIA收购arm，它就可以同时拥有CPU和GPU的能力。两者结合后，arm可以更好地进入数据中心市场。

NVIDIA is better than GPU. At present, Intel CPU plus NVIDIA GPU is commonly used in data center. Arm is better than CPU architecture. Once NVIDIA acquires arm, it can have the capabilities of CPU and GPU at the same time. After the combination of the two, arm can better enter the data center market.

然而，这种合作存在许多障碍，arm今天的成就与其中立地位有关。Arm的全球业务涉及500多家大型企业。一旦被收购，英伟达有可能压制其竞争对手，以赢得芯片市场份额；即使没有这样的行动，英伟达提前收购arm最新架构产品也足以让竞争对手失去机会。

However, there are many obstacles to this cooperation, and arm's achievements today have something to do with its neutral status. Arm's global business involves more than 500 large enterprises. Once it is acquired, there is a risk that NVIDIA will suppress its competitors in order to win the chip market share; Even if there is no such action, NVIDIA's acquisition of arm's latest architecture products ahead of time is enough to let competitors lose the opportunity.

苹果、高通等美国公司联手向美国监管机构施压，华为等中国公司也向国内监管机构提出了否决收购英伟达的消息。英国政府还表示，将对收购进行审查。

U.S. companies such as apple and Qualcomm have united to put pressure on U.S. regulators, while Chinese companies such as Huawei have also put forward news to domestic regulators to veto the acquisition of NVIDIA. The British government also said it would review the acquisition.

不过，5月26日，据国外媒体报道，根据《登记册》，arm在完成英伟达交易前实施了招聘冻结，取消了支付给员工的年度福利津贴，并做出了全面等待收购的姿态。

However, on May 26, according to the register, a foreign media report, arm had implemented a recruitment freeze before the completion of the NVIDIA deal, cancelled the annual welfare allowance paid to employees, and made a full wait for the acquisition gesture.

arm与安利中国之间的纠纷可能会对此次收购产生影响。

What arm may have an impact on this acquisition is the dispute between arm and Amway China.

Arm中国成立于2018年，是中国投资者与软银集团的合资企业。中方持股51%，其中厚朴投资持股35%，吴雄昂持股16%；外方持股49%，arm持股47.33%。

Arm China, founded in 2018, is a joint venture between Chinese investors and Softbank group. The Chinese side holds 51% of the shares, among which Hopu investment owns 35% of the shares of Chinese capital, and Wu xiong'ang holds 16%; The foreign party holds 49%, and arm holds 47.33% of the foreign equity.

arm中国成立后，表示将"聚焦中国市场，做中国核心技术"，注重基于arm架构技术的IP和标准的自主研发，并通过更符合中国客户需求的IP研发，提供更贴近客户的本地化支持和服务。

After the establishment of arm China, it said that it would "focus on the Chinese market and do the core technology of China", pay attention to the independent research and development of IP and standards based on ARM architecture technology, and provide localized support and services closer to customers through the research and development of IP more in line with the needs of Chinese customers.

三年来，arm中国先后推出了"周易"爱普、"星辰"处理器、"山海"信息安全解决方案、"玲珑"I3/i5 ISP处理器四大IP产品。

Over the past three years, arm China has successively launched four IP products - "Zhouyi" Aipu, "Xingchen" processor, "Shanhai" information security solution and "Linglong" I3 / i5 ISP processor.

不过，2020年6月10日，arm发布媒体声明，称将以损害公司利益为名，免去吴雄昂安某的中国区CEO职务。次日，arm中国发表声明称，arm的指控毫无根据，召回程序不合法。吴雄刚继续担任公司首席执行官。有一场关于更换指挥官的闹剧。

However, on June 10, 2020, arm issued a media statement, saying that it would remove Wu xiong'ang'anmou from the post of CEO of China in the name of harming the interests of the company. The next day, arm China issued a statement saying that arm's accusations were groundless and the recall procedure was not legal. Wu xiongang continued to lead the company as CEO. There was a farce about changing the commander.

7月28日，ARM中国还发布了一封由公司正式签署的联名信。

In July 28th, ARM China also released a joint letter with official signature of the company on official account.

Arm先后派出3名高管接替吴雄刚。据知情人士透露，今年4月，吴奇隆将起诉这三位高管，要求他们归还公司财产，以保住现任CEO吴奇隆手中的arm中国控制权。不过，到目前为止，我们还没有看到任何与诉讼有关的消息。

Arm has successively dispatched three senior executives to replace Wu xiongang. In April this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Wu will sue the three executives to return the company's property in order to retain control of arm China in the hands of current CEO Mr. Wu. However, so far, we have not seen any news related to the lawsuit.

中国市场对arm非常重要。2018年，中国市场占arm总销售额的五分之一；2019年，arm中国的年增长率接近50%，占arm全球IP业务的27%。与营收几乎为零增长的arm相比，这一增长趋势可谓难得一见的活水。没有arm，arm中国很难发展。毕竟，arm中国的底层技术基因是总部的产物。

The Chinese market is very important to arm. In 2018, the Chinese market accounted for one fifth of arm's total sales; In 2019, arm China's annual growth is nearly 50%, accounting for 27% of arm's global IP business. Compared with arm, which has almost zero revenue growth, this growth trend is a rare living water. It is difficult for arm China to develop without arm. After all, the underlying technology gene of arm China is the product of the head office.

目前，arm与arm中国的合作与交流仍在继续。

At present, the cooperation and exchanges between arm and arm China continue.

36氪了解到，arm中国的工作仍在推进中。对于此事，吴雄刚给员工的答复是"这是工作股东层面的事情，由公司股东解决"，arm和arm中国的员工仍在进行正常的技术交流。

36 krypton learned that the work of arm China is still advancing. For this matter, Wu xiongang's reply to the employees is "this is a matter at the level of working shareholders, which will be solved by the shareholders of the company", and the employees of arm and arm China are still conducting normal technical exchanges.

无论是合并还是重组，事情都需要解决，公司需要继续发展。

Whether it's a merger or a reshuffle, things need to be solved and the company needs to continue to develop.

进入2021年后，arm可谓是最有规律的更新，最大的变化。

After entering 2021, arm can be described as the most regular update of the biggest changes.

首先，在3月份，arm发布了V9指令集，取代了10年前的V8；4月份，arm发布了基于V9的数据中心IP"arm Neover N2"；就在几天前的5月25日，arm还发布了三款CPU和三款GPU核心设计，为arm笔记本、高端手机处理器、智能手表等产品提供了新的解决方案。

First, in March, arm released the V9 instruction set, replacing the 10-year-old V8; Then, in April, arm released "arm Neover N2" for data center IP based on V9; Just a few days ago, on May 25, arm also released three CPU and three GPU core designs, providing new solutions for arm notebook, high-end mobile phone processor, smart watch and other products.

纵观ARM的发展，从赌博机系统到基础的许多产品，经过几次收购后，ARM的核心作为底层架构从未改变。时代的机遇、多年的规划、生态建设造就了今天。

Throughout the development of arm, from the gambling machine system to the underlying foundation of many products, after several acquisitions, the core of arm as the underlying architecture has never changed. The opportunity of the times, years of planning, and ecological construction have made arm today.

今天，arm的未来是不确定的，但是arm架构进入除手机之外的其他领域并与x86架构竞争的趋势不会改变。

Today, the future of arm is uncertain, but the trend of arm architecture entering into other fields except mobile phones and competing with x86 architecture will not change.

参考资料：

reference material:

arm的起源：一家英国小公司如何发明arm并改变了机器的心脏世界

The origin of arm: how a small British company invented arm and changed the world, the heart of machines

手臂的成长史：20世纪70年代的老虎嗅探

The growth history of arm: Tiger sniffing in the 1970s

Arm高性能之路：从全歼到回收，电子工程专辑

Arm high performance road: from total annihilation to recovery, electronic engineering album

Arm 10年的PC历程，以及微软的"暧昧"电子工程专辑

Arm's 10-year PC journey, and Microsoft's "ambiguous", electronic engineering album

Arm的视野与物联网危机

Arm's vision and crisis of Internet of things

Link：https://new.qq.com/omn/20210601/20210601A01UGF00.html

update time：2021-06-01 09:47:36