NXPI - Qualcomm NXP others working on alternative Arm technology

2023-08-04 08:17:05 ET

Amid a legal dispute between Qualcomm ( NASDAQ: QCOM ) and SoftBank ( OTCPK:SFTBY )-owned Arm, the San Diego-based chipmaker is working with other companies on an alternative to Arm's technology.

Led by CEO Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm ( QCOM ) is working with NXP Semiconductor ( NASDAQ: NXPI ), Nordic Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies ( OTCQX:IFNNY ) ( OTCQX:IFNNF ) and Robert Bosch to develop and promote the RISC-V architecture for design, according to a statement .

Arm technology, licensed by companies such as Apple ( AAPL ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) and others, has dominated the mobile phone space and as increasingly moving into other areas, such as data centers and servers, where Intel ( INTC ) has long played.

In the statement, Qualcomm ( QCOM ) senior vice president of product management Ziad Asghar said the company is excited to drive the RISC-V ecosystem expansion.

"Qualcomm Technologies has been investing in RISC-V for more than five years and we've integrated RISC-V micro-controllers into many of our commercial platforms," Asghar said. "We believe RISC-V's open-source instruction set will increase innovation and has the potential to transform the industry."

The companies will initially go after the automotive market, but will expand beyond that into areas such as mobile and internet of things.

San Diego, California-based Qualcomm ( QCOM ) and Arm are entrenched in a legal battle over its 2021 acquisition of chip start-up Nuvia.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) is working on a Nuvia-inspired chip, which uses Arm technology, that it wants to use for laptops. However, Arm said Qualcomm ( QCOM ) needs a new license to use Nuvia's designs, while Qualcomm said it already has a license for Arm chip design that is wider reaching than the previous Nuvia license.

Arm is slated to go public later this year and is reportedly targeting a valuation of as much as $60B in the initial public offering.

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