The latest "statement" from Arm, Arm China and Huawei HiSilicon: We will not cut off supply to Huawei HiSilicon!

Arm is a British chip architecture company founded in 1990. It was acquired by SoftBank of Masayoshi Son in 2016, but its headquarters is still in Cambridge, UK. It is reported that Arm itself does not manufacture computer chips. Its main business is to license its semiconductor technology to others, and sell the technology and tools in packages. The companies that buy it can use Arm technology for design. And this technology is the famous Arm architecture in the chip industry.

According to public data, the shipment volume of chips equipped with Arm IP by Chinese partners has increased more than 170 times in the past 10 years.

The Chinese market is not only very large, but also unique and very different from other parts of the world. In order for Arm technology to benefit more local Chinese companies, Arm urgently needs a Chinese partner to develop Arm-compatible technology that can be licensed locally in the Chinese market. At the same time, Chinese companies are also more inclined to purchase technology fully developed by Chinese companies. Therefore, through the establishment of the Arm China joint venture, Arm-based semiconductor intellectual property (IP) will be tailored to adapt to the Chinese domestic ecosystem solutions, and provide Chinese partners with a broader technology portfolio to meet the needs of the Chinese market. The joint venture is committed to providing localized support for the Chinese market and local innovation, continuously expanding the market and providing more opportunities.

In April 2018, Arm's Chinese business was split, and the joint venture company Arm China, controlled by the Chinese side (China holds 51%), officially began operations. Over the past year, Arm China has insisted on local innovation and global cooperation, focusing on team building, independent IP research and development, and ecological empowerment.

　　From left to right: Rene Haas, President of Arm IP Product Group, Diao Yanqiu, CIO of Huawei HiSilicon Semiconductor, and Wu Xiong'ang, Executive Chairman and CEO of Arm China

Long-term cooperation, Arm will not stop supplying Huawei HiSilicon.
In fact, Huawei has an intricate cooperative relationship with Arm in many aspects including mobile phones, servers, and networks.

Rene Haas, president of Arm's IP Products Group, said, "Huawei HiSilicon is a long-term partner of Arm and has always maintained a good cooperative relationship." Everyone knows that Huawei was included in the Entity List by the US government in May this year. Now Arm has clarified and has a clear conclusion. Whether it is the previous V8 architecture or the subsequent architecture, from an architectural perspective, Arm is British technology, so it will not be affected by some current relevant regulations.

Huawei's cooperation with Arm has been ongoing, and Arm has never stopped supplying Huawei. At the same time, after Huawei obtained Arm's cooperation authorization, because of Arm's cooperation model, whether it is IP or architecture authorization, customers can get our full set of source code and related technical support, and they can continue to make their own products technically. From the public information outside, including Huawei's mobile phone chips, servers, and new motherboard plans, etc., are being implemented step by step, and we have been continuously providing support to Huawei in these aspects. There is no problem in licensing the subsequent architecture to Chinese customers, added Liang Quan, head of Arm's China Marketing Department.

Huawei HiSilicon Semiconductor CIO Diao Yanqiu said that Arm is a long-term partner of Huawei. After this incident, everyone has clarified the situation, and the cooperation between us will be clearer and more determined.

Wu Xiong'ang, Executive Chairman and CEO of Arm China, emphasized that the V8 architecture and subsequent architectures are all developed based on British technology, so there will be no problems with subsequent authorizations in this regard. Arm is an IP product, and Arm's IP products originally adopted a global collaborative development model. Depending on the nature of the product, the amount of work and methods required for compliance are different. From a compliance perspective, Arm and Arm China have been seeking appropriate solutions that comply with current laws and regulations.

In addition, investment platforms related to Arm are already in place, and Arm has completed its layout in the field of entrepreneurial accelerators in China. It has established wholly-owned "Anchuang Space" companies in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Nanjing and other places. Riding the national policy, as one of the world's most influential chip technology suppliers, "the global shipments of Arm architecture chips are expected to reach 100 billion in the four years from 2018 to 2021!" - This is not a slogan, Arm and Arm China are ushering in a new era of opportunities.