ARC: from 3D Game Chips to Licensable RISC Processor

By Nitin Dahad, EETimes (September 21, 2020)

Today marks the 20^th anniversary of a landmark in my career, and probably a handful of others. On 21^st September 2000, the 32-bit configurable RISC processor company ARC International, now an integral part of Synopsys, completed a major milestone in its history: an IPO (initial public offering) on the London Stock Exchange, at a first day market valuation of around £1.1 billion.

That was a huge achievement for all concerned, but for me it was extra special, because it was the culmination of an objective set by the two people, founder Rick Clucas and CEO Bob Terwilliger, who recruited me as part of the early team of 20 or so people at Argonaut RISC Cores as it was called then, in July 1998. When I visited them for my ‘interview’ in the Argonaut Software building in Edgware, north of London, where there was a large cutout of one the big Nintendo games they’d produced (I believe it was Star Fox) in the lobby, the speed with which startups can make decisions meant I was already offered the ‘job’.

That same evening, pleased that I’d agreed to join, Bob took me to dinner in a well-known Indian restaurant in the center of London, and set me my target: “I want to do an IPO in two years, and you’re going to help us do it,” he told me.

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