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Is ARM’s ambition that it should be ‘The Architecture for the Digital World’ now dead because it has lost its independence?
Will the electronics industry ever again (after the Intel experience) allow a sole-sourced proprietary microprocessor to become dominant in any important industry segment?
And, if not, what use is ARM to Softbank?
Will ARM’s licensees continue to believe they will get fair and non-discriminatory treatment from ARM?
Will customers who have a choice – i.e. non-mobile customers like those making ICs for servers, IoT, MCUs consumer – make other choices?
And, if so, does that stymie ARM’s growth?
Will ARM start to compete with its customers?
Will ARM’s designers be less motivated now that the survival of the company no longer depends on them producing superlative cores?
Will UK universities and research houses be happy to work with ARM knowing that the results of the research will be owned by a foreign company.
Will turning the senior execs into multi-millionaires erode their competitive urges?
Will making senior execs financially independent encourage them to leave?
Can a telecoms company make good decisions for a semiconductor IP company?
Will Softbank’s $120 billion of debt and non-performing telecoms assets mean ARM is starved of investment?
Naturally, those who have most profited from this deal will be the last people to be concerned about these issues.
Only about two a year Nimboid ARM was sold for £24bn and the deficit seems to be running at about £50bn a year.
If we were to come onside with the triumphant philosophy in this case, we could conclude that Britain’s role in world trade should be to create businesses for export.
So, how many ARMs would we have to manufacture and sell abroad every decade in order to reverse the UKs balance of payments deficit? (Despite barely getting a mention these days, surely that’s the deficit that really matters?)
Yes indeed Nimboid, next week the Crown Jewels, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle go under the hammer. Roll Up, Roll Up.
“Open for business” in the sense that BHS was last week, plastered with “all fixtures and fittings for sale” posters.
The irony is, AnotherDavid, that governments keep creating all this easy, cheap money to keep the banking system afloat and the bankers then go and spend the cheap money on deals which destroy productive economic assets.
At least we are “open to business”, selling off the family silver. What happens when its all gone and the bankers have spent their bonuses, which they get because they are so good at getting a deal.
Don’t worry though, the PM has business experience. Oh, that was in banking as well.
At least the lights won’t go out, ah, the wind has stopped blowing.