Published on 9th June 2013
The main threat to ARM Holdings may turn out to be ‘home-grown.’ Imagination Technologies, the British designer of graphics and video microchips for gadgets such as the iPhone is gearing up for a foray into ARM´s main market, making the processors that go into smartphones and other devices. Hence the recent acquisition of US outfit MIPS Technologies, whose architecture, it claims, has advantages over ARM´s. Crucially, MIPS microchips are supported by Google´s Android operating system, which accounts for around 70 per cent of smartphone sales and is making its way into televisions, cars and other devices, according to The Sunday Telegraph.