ARM's race: semiconductor companies. (Advanced RISC Machines)

Economist (US), The, September, 1997

Advanced RISC Machines sells its reduced instruction set computing (RISC) semiconductor technology to companies that need a semiconductor chip that is fast, yet does not draw much power. Digital is manufacturing its fastest chip as the StrongARM that will compete with Intel's Pentium chip.

IF YOUR name is not Intel, the microprocessor market can seem a lonely place. The giant chip maker has about 80% of the world's processor sales, thanks to its stranglehold on the personal computer. But outside the PC world, there is an even bigger, faster-growing market, for the less glamorous chips that run everything from cars to video-game machines. The margins for these "embedded" chips are not as rich, but the market is more open: Intel is a refreshingly feeble figure on the...

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