ARM Holdings

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The entrance to ARM's headquarters in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, UK

ARM Holdings plc is a technology company headquartered in England, founded in 1990. The company was founded as a joint venture between Acorn Computers and Apple Computer. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: ARM) and NASDAQ (symbol: ARMHY). It is probably the best-known of the Silicon Fen companies.

ARM was a spin-off from Acorn Computers Ltd (as Advanced RISC Machines), intended to further the development of the Acorn RISC Machine's RISC chip, which was originally used in the Acorn Archimedes and is now the processing core for many custom ASICs.

A characteristic feature of ARM processors is their low electric power consumption, which makes them particularly suitable for use in portable devices. In fact, almost all modern mobile phones and PDAs contain ARM CPUs, making them the most widely-used 32-bit microprocessor family in the world, more so than the better-known 32-bit Pentium 4 processors found in many PCs. Today ARMs account for over 75% of all 32-bit embedded CPUs.

ARM processors are used as the main CPU for most Mobile phones, including those manufactured by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung; many Personal digital assistants (PDAs) and handhelds, like the Apple iPod, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Gamepark GP32, and Gamepark Holdings GP2X; as well as many other applications, including GPS, Digital camera, Digital television, Networking and Storage.

Unlike other microprocessor corporations such as AMD, Intel, Freescale (formerly Motorola) and Renesas (formerly Hitachi), ARM only licenses its technology as Intellectual property (IP), rather than manufacturing its own CPUs. Thus, there are a few dozen companies making processors based on ARM's designs. Intel, Freescale and Renesas have all licensed ARM technology. In 2005, 1.7 billion chips based on an ARM design were manufactured.

Along the way, ARM has grown both organically and through acquisitions.

In 1999 and 2000, ARM acquired Micrologic, a software company based in Cambridge, UK, Allant Software, a developer of debugger software, and Infinite Designs, a design company based in Sheffield, UK.

In 2003, ARM acquired Adelente Technologies of Belgium, creating its OptimoDE data engines business, a form of lightweight DSP engine.

In 2004, ARM acquired Axys Design Automation, a developer of ESL design tools; and Artisan Components, a designer of Physical IP (Standard cell libraries, PHYs etc.), the building blocks of integrated circuits.

In 2005, ARM acquired KEIL Software, a leading developer of Software development tools for the microcontroller market, including 8051 and C16x platforms.

In 2006, ARM acquired Falanx, a developer of 3D graphics accelerators.

ARM also designs, licenses and sells Software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, Systems & Platforms, System on chip infrastructure IP and Software.

ARM and has offices and design centers across the world, including Sunnyvale, California, Austin, Texas, Olympia, Washington, Trondheim, Norway, Sophia Antipolis, France, Munich, Germany, Taiwan, Shin Yokohama, Japan, China, India.

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ARM Holdings

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