Silicon sales pitch
So basically, on the eve of a gathering of ARM partners, GlobalFoundries is standing on the rooftops and shouting "Hey everyone, we're really good at making silicon for wireless devices and SoCs." Clearly a sales pitch.
And we think ARM itself is the company GlobalFoundries really wants to impress. ARM works closely with foundries like TSMC to make it easier for its partners to work with the foundry. While ARM doesn't design the final chip, the fabless partner that does is likely to go to the foundry that has the best relationship with ARM. Hence: if you get ARM, you get its partners.
We contacted both ARM and GlobalFoundries for an update on their relationship. ARM had nothing to add at this time and GlobalFoundries director of corporate communications Jon Carvill had the following to say: "Our focus continues to be on partnering with companies who need high-volume, leading-edge technology and manufacturing capabilities. We've had an ongoing dialogue with ARM since we've launched GLOBALFOUNDRIES but have nothing new to announce on the relationship at this time."
So no clarification yet, but we'll leave you with one last thought. We know that ARM and Intel are coming into increasing competitive conflict with each other, so how do you think ARM felt when its historic foundry partner TSMC announced a special new relationship with Intel to manufacture SoCs for it?
If you want a clue, have a look at the one company to come out in strong support of Global Foundries when it was officially unveiled two days later.
