Now almost all mainstream chip manufacturers are based on ARM architecture, which is the official standard microarchitecture "Cortex-A" of ARM.
In the hardware circuit, to use the ARM instruction set system, the hardware design circuit must follow the characteristics and addressing methods of ARM instructions, so Qualcomm and Apple's CPU are also ARM architecture. ?
But the micro-architecture of CPU is more complicated. The micro-architecture of CPU includes cache management, cache design, out-of-order execution, superscalar, superpipeline, memory control, branch prediction and many other extremely complex circuits. The efficiency of these circuits directly determines the performance of CPU.
Qualcomm and Apple designed these circuits independently, so they are independent CPU architectures, but they also use the instruction system and addressing mode of ARM.
Similarly, China's Loongson also uses MIPS instruction system, but the micro-architecture is designed by itself.
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ARM Global CEO: We won't pretend that we can't hear its attack.
ARM, a British "nobody" company, has an annual revenue of about 500 million US dollars, which is in constant conflict with the global processor giant Intel, because the MID (Mobile Internet Terminal) business promoted by Intel may squeeze its territory.
"We will not pretend not to hear them attack us, even though we are not their direct competitors." A few days ago, Warren East, global CEO of ARM, said in an exclusive interview with China Business News in Shanghai.
ARM is a global company specializing in semiconductor intellectual property licensing. In the current global communication market, its processor architecture almost monopolizes nearly 100% of CDMA mobile phones and more than 85% of WCDMA mobile phones, especially the fastest growing smart phone market. Among them, Qualcomm, Ti Yi and other mobile phone chip giants, Nokia, Samsung and other domestic and foreign mobile phone companies are their hardcore partners.
Intel's MID concept is the combination of notebook computer and smart phone, which represents the integration of Internet, communication and PC industry. With the near-monopoly PC processor business, Intel is making every effort to migrate to a higher niche Internet and communication industry, and MID is its weapon.
A few years ago, Intel coveted the communication market, developed the xscale processor with the help of ARM patents, applied it to Motorola and other companies' mobile phones, and tried to extend it to the Internet, but the business has been losing money and was finally sold in 2006.
Intel returned to this market, no longer relying on ARM architecture, but chose X86 architecture, which is widely used in PC field, which is its advantage.
At two consecutive global technology summits in the United States and Shanghai, Intel's global executives repeatedly said that mobile terminals based on ARM processors are not suitable for browsing ordinary web pages, and there will be many errors. Only when users choose Intel can they get the best experience.
However, Warren East said that the error mentioned by Intel has nothing to do with ARM, but with the software plug-in, and there will be no error after downloading and installing.
"Intel used to be an authorized customer of ARM, and now it aims at ARM, mainly taking the opportunity to promote the establishment of MID industrial chain with X86 architecture." He said that the company will not pretend not to hear the attack, but Intel's current architecture can't solve the power consumption problem at all.
Intel is attractive enough to the PC industry at present. In April, after Centrino Atom processor was listed in Shanghai, Lenovo, Asus, Samsung and many other companies immediately launched MID products, but at present, it has not been mass-produced in China.
In this regard, Warren East said that the partners of the communication industry camp that the company relies on will not give up their market just because Intel has a "small business". He believes that although the MID market is much larger than the PC, it is much smaller than the mobile phone market.
Last year, Dude Brown, global chief operating officer of ARM, told China Business News that the annual shipment of chips authorized by ARM exceeded 2.5 billion pieces, which was 10 times that of PC chips headed by Intel.
At that time, Dodd Brown emphasized that with its unique business model (only patent authorization), ARM did not have direct competition with Intel, so it was not afraid of Intel's "misleading" attack.
China News Network -MID Industry Encountered British "Little Man" ARM vs Intel.