Nvidia has approached Softbank and is considering buying ARM Holdings

[uzzi38]

Will update with articles as they come out (they haven't yet but news is public). For now just a couple of Tweets:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1286003982079533056

https://twitter.com/x/status/1286004990327132161

This is a real significant move for Nvidia, having a huge role in ARM core designs could have major implementations down the line. Most importantly, it secures them a platform and ecosystem down the line.

Oh and I guess Nvidia becomes the defacto standard for GPU IP for mobile instead of Mali. That too.

EDIT: Bloomberg article here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ompany-arm-is-said-to-attract-nvidia-interest

 

[NTMBK]

Even if tomorrow someone open sourced the perfect RISC-V core- something that was 100% competitive with the Apple M2 in both performance and efficiency- I think you wouldn't see it in a phone. ARM world has an entire ecosystem of other IP blocks that you can plug together- the fabric, the memory controllers, the AI accelerator, the GPU, the IPU, the modem, the video decoder, etc. I don't think RISC-V is anywhere near that yet.

 

[dark zero]

MIPS had a lower barrier of entry to Android devices back in Android 1~5.1.1 era. The RISC-V needs cores that are comparable to latest Cortex-Xx/Cortex-A7xx. As the premium to ultra-premium is what pushes the current mobility market. No one is going to buy a JH7110 in a Phone/Phablet or a TH1520 in a Phone/Phablet.

The other issue is the community driving RISC-V on Android. With the above doing it in their own garden via OpenHarmony/HarmonyOS [Huawei's branch of Android]. 80% of RISC-V foundation force has ditched standard Android and gone for OpenHarmony instead.

Dubhe via JH7110 successor by StarFive and C920 via TH1520 successor by T-Head. Will of course be exclusive to their domestic market.

I believe however Alibaba's T-head has already achieved monopoly status.
ROMA Laptop dev platform.
HH-SCDAYU800 Tablet dev platform.

It isn't far off to expect a smartphone dev platform sometime this year, since they already have two of three mobility rings. NetEase is already "producing" an education software based off T-head's RISC-V hardware. In turn, allowing T-head to dominate the domestic EDU/IND/GOV markets.

So why MIPS failed? by a series of mishaps?
MIPS now is technically non existant in Android scenario.

Also isn't easier to see RISC-V tablets or Chromebooks before going to phones?

 

[Roland00Address]

So why MIPS failed? by a series of mishaps?
MIPS now is technically non existant in Android scenario.

Also isn't easier to see RISC-V tablets or Chromebooks before going to phones?

Yes, it would be easier to see such tables or chromebooks, but that would still not be easy.

For example Google is the one who makes the Chromebook platform creating a certified motherboard plus soc platform and then allow OEMs to innovate on top of it like you can do different laptop screen sizes for the Chromebook. A core that Google controls for developer reasons but also consumer reasons such as promising X years of support.

So while it would be technically easier to do a Chromebook one must not forget the politics of it, such as does Google want to annoy customers for compatibility reasons if it’s not ready for prime time, but this not ready for prime time is also how things get ready for prime time causing a chicken and egg scenario.