What is Arm and what do Arm processors do?
What is and what is ARM, the fashionable architecture for processors?
An electronic device capable of performing different functions requires a central processing unit or CPU. The arrival of smartphones has brought the popularization of ARM architecture processors. Processors that are making the leap to laptops, among others thanks to Apple. But, what are ARM processors and what are they for?
What is ARM
It is the name given to processors developed by ARM Holdings and based on the RISC architecture. The first chips were 32-bit architecture, but then 64-bit architecture chips were released.
The first 32-bit ARM processors were released in 1987 by Acorn Computers for their Acorn Archimedes computers. Later the company renamed ARM Holdings and owned by SoftBank. On September 14, 2020 it was announced that NVIDIA had acquired ARM for $ 40.000 billion. Note that the agreement is not yet fully closed, lacking approval from some countries.
Curiously ARM Holdings does not manufacture processors, although their designs are present on smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. What they do is create designs and license these IPs (intellectual property) to other companies.
ARM Processors Features
They are mainly characterized by being based on the RISC architecture. This architecture of «Reduced Instruction Set Computer» it is a more simplified design of instructions than conventional Intel or AMD processors.
This architecture is characterized by allow to create processors of very low size and consumption. By having a very low consumption, the temperatures are lower and autonomy is improved. Thanks to the constructive simplicity, these ARM processors are very easy to produce, reducing the cost.
Although until relatively recently they were used mainly for smartphones and tablets, they are making the leap to other markets. Apple has released MacBook Air based on Apple Silicon processors design ARM. They are even working on processors for servers.
Note that these processors receive support for a multitude of operating systems. In addition to iOS and Android, specially optimized for the RISC architecture on which ARM is based, other operating systems such as Windows and different distributions of Linux, these processors already support.
What are ARM processors used for?
Due to its good performance, low cost and low consumption, its use is spreading rapidly. It is expected that in the next decade we will see the ARM chip integration in different systems.
In addition to notebooks like the MacBook Air, Apple is expected to even bring it to its workstations. NVIDIA wants to develop its solutions for AI and Cloud Computing based on ARM SoCs. Amazon is migrating a small part of its AWS systems to systems based in these SoCs. And the list could go on.
Also highlight that Samsung is working on a hybrid processor based on ARM. They want their Exynos processors based on this architecture, in 2022, come up with a solution AMD Radeon RDNA graphics integrated. Little is known about this design at the moment, but it looks promising.
The expansion of ARM SoCs is blazing today. It works in integrate them into autonomous vehicles, which are still in development. It is planned that part of the 5G networks are mounted with ARM-based systems. It even works on specific solutions for rockets and satellites.
