{"id":467,"date":"2011-02-25T11:27:26","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T11:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.slyman.org\/blog\/?p=467"},"modified":"2013-06-07T09:48:33","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T09:48:33","slug":"arm-to-dominate-microprocessor-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/arm-to-dominate-microprocessor-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"ARM to dominate microprocessor architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Advanced RISC Machine\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ARM<\/a> appears likely to dominate microprocessor architecture.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/microsoft\/news\/2011\/01\/windows-8-to-come-in-arm-soc-flavors.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: Windows 8 to come in ARM, SoC flavors<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Ars Technica article quoting NVidia chairman predicting the future of the ARM and x86 microprocessor ecosystems\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/news\/2011\/02\/nvidia-30-and-the-riscification-of-x86.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: All this has happened before: NVIDIA 3.0, ARM, and the fate of x86<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Ars Technica: All this has happened before: NVIDIA 3.0, ARM, and the fate of x86: Comment from matthewslyman\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/news\/2011\/02\/nvidia-30-and-the-riscification-of-x86.ars?comments=1&#038;start=80#comment-21372969\" target=\"_blank\">The author&#x27;s comment on the latest Ars Technica article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Geek.com: Article with side-by-side comparison of Arm Cortex A9 vs. Intel Atom\" href=\"http:\/\/www.geek.com\/articles\/chips\/arm-posts-cortex-a9-vs-atom-performance-video-intel-should-be-worried-2010016\/\" target=\"_blank\">An article from &#8220;geek.com&#8221; (from 6th January) with a video showing a side-by-side comparison of ARM Cortex A9 vs. Intel Atom<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Reuters article about AMD quoted in Skype conversation, 13\/Jan\/2011:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPeople may increasingly depend on tablets and smartphones\u2014instead of PCs\u2014as their main point of contact with the Internet, experts say.\u201d&#x2014;<a title=\"Reuters.com: AMD CEO left partly over mobile strategy\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/idUSTRE70A0D620110112\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>AMD and Intel are both having a difficult time competing against lesser-known <a title=\"Advanced RISC Machine\" href=\"http:\/\/www.arm.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ARM<\/a>.&nbsp; Inherent technological trends (including the famous <a title=\"Wikipedia: Moore&#x27;s Law\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Moore's_law\" target=\"_blank\">Moore&#x27;s Law<\/a>) are pushing increasing proportions of the market toward ARM&#x27;s traditional market segment, in which ARM enjoys a significant headstart on Intel and AMD with development and intellectual property.&nbsp; ARM&#x27;s microprocessor designs power over 95% of the world&#x27;s smartphones including Apple iPhones and iPads, Blackberry and Windows Mobile, Samsung etc&#8230;&nbsp; <a title=\"Wikipedia: Mobile operating system: Mobile OS comparison (note the table row entitled &ldquo;Supported CPU Architecture&rdquo;)\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mobile_operating_system#Mobile_OS_comparison\" target=\"_blank\">The whole market segment is tooled up and trained for working with ARM<\/a>, with strong pressure from ARM&#x27;s power consumption advantage for the industry to continue favouring ARM designs for portable devices.<\/p>\n<h2>ARM&#x27;s fundamental advantages<\/h2>\n<p>Regardless of Intel&#x27;s <a title=\"cnet: How Intel&#x27;s 3D tech redefines the transistor (Brooke Crothers)\" href=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/8301-13924_3-20059431-64.html\" target=\"_blank\">progress in developing power-saving semiconductor hardware<\/a>, ARM will retain a fundamental advantage over Intel x86-based processors through ARM&#x27;s simpler and more power-efficient <a title=\"Wikipedia: ARM architecture: Instruction set\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ARM_architecture#Instruction_set\" target=\"_blank\">instruction-set<\/a> and design philosophy.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.slyman.org\/blog-cdn\/ARM-Cortex-logo.jpg\" style=\"float:right;margin:0.6em 0 0.6em 1.2em;width:160px;height:72px;\" width=\"160\" height=\"72\" \/>&nbsp; Intel is working hard to erode ARM&#x27;s power-efficiency advantage through industrial leadership in the development of many new semiconductor manufacturing technologies; however, <a title=\"Forrester.com: IBM And ARM Continue Their Collaboration \u2013 Major Win For ARM (Richard Fichera)\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.forrester.com\/richard_fichera\/11-01-25-ibm_and_arm_continue_their_collaboration_major_win_for_arm\" target=\"_blank\">ARM&#x27;s strategic partnership with IBM<\/a>, another industrial giant in semiconductor fabrication (as <a title=\"thestockmarketwatch.com: IBM and ARM Sign Deal (Ed Liston)\" href=\"http:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/recent-events\/ibm-and-arm-sign-deal\/4561\" target=\"_blank\">part of a broad industrial alliance<\/a>) for the development of a standardised 14nm semiconductor manufacturing process for the fabrication of ARM processors and <a title=\"Wikipedia: System-on-a-Chip\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/System-on-a-chip\" target=\"_blank\">SoCs<\/a> will help to ensure that ARM will not fall far behind Intel in this important field.&nbsp; <a title=\"The Economist: The Difference Engine: Intel left outside\" href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/blogs\/babbage\/2011\/05\/computer_processors\" target=\"_blank\">Intel will continue expending significant amounts of money on research and development to retain their lead in process technology so as to neutralise ARM&#x27;s fundamental design advantages as far as they can<\/a>; but with process technology rapidly approaching the <a title=\"ACM: CMOS End-Point (Maurice Wilkes)\" href=\"http:\/\/dl.acm.org\/citation.cfm?id=218865\" target=\"_blank\">CMOS endpoint<\/a>, Intel&#x27;s CMOS research advantage will soon suffer from a <a title=\"Wikipedia: Diminishing returns\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Diminishing_returns\" target=\"_blank\">law of diminishing returns<\/a>.&nbsp; The antiquated and excessively complex <a title=\"Wikipedia: [Intel] x86\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/X86\" target=\"_blank\">Intel x86<\/a> <a title=\"Wikipedia: x86 instruction listings\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/X86_instruction_listings\" target=\"_blank\">instruction set<\/a>, once an asset of Intel, <span title=\"...x86 is becoming a liability for Intel&#x2014;a fact that Intel has recognised, as demonstrated by their decision to experiment with the Itanium line of processors which use a very different instruction-set.\">is becoming a net liability for Intel<\/span>, yet this is a liability Intel cannot easily offload without <span title=\"...by suddenly rendering their own existing cash-cow instruction-sets irrelevant, or by becoming an ARM foundry themselves and thereby supporting ARM&#x27;s strategy themselves.\">losing even more market-share to ARM<\/span> in semiconductor design and associated intellectual property.&nbsp; Other fundamental advantages conferred on ARM by their superior (simpler) instruction-set architecture include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li title=\"This improvement is especially applicable to scaled-up massively multi-core or multi-processor designs.&nbsp; Scaling up in this manner appears likely to offer the best mass-market strategic roadmap for future development of microprocessors.&nbsp; In other words, despite Intel&#x27;s research in this area, ARM is perhaps better positioned than Intel to take advantage of this trend.\">Simpler design requirements for optimising compilers (so that good software development tools cost less to develop and are likely to produce more reliable and more efficient code),<\/li>\n<li>Simpler methods of <a title=\"Cambridge University Computer Laboratory: Formal Specification and Verification of ARM6 (Professor Mike Gorden et al.)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cl.cam.ac.uk\/~mjcg\/ARM\/\" target=\"_blank\">verifying the correctness<\/a> and security of ARM&#x27;s comparatively open designs; meaning less chances of a <a title=\"Wikipedia: Pentium FDIV bug (a &ldquo;minor&rdquo; mistake by Intel led to millions of microprocessors leaving their factories with fundamental design flaws, and subsequently being recalled.)\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pentium_FDIV_bug\" target=\"_blank\">product recall<\/a> or <a target=\"Can Darpa Fix the Cybersecurity \u2018Problem From Hell?\u2019&#x2014;article about managing the security threat from integrated circuits manufactured within hostile r\u00e9gimes.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/dangerroom\/2011\/08\/problem-from-hell\/\" target=\"_blank\">security debacle<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>A less intricate and less complex end-product requiring less energy and less raw materials for its manufacture.&nbsp; Superior manufacturing yield.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>ARM&#x27;s strategy of building broad and equitable industrial partnerships (e.g. in semiconductor fabrication) effectively neutralises Intel&#x27;s scale and cash advantage and courts the attention of customers who like the inherent economy and security of a market of multiple competing suppliers with compatible products (and who <a title=\"fernstrategy.com: ARM Disrupting Intel with its Business Model (Michael Fern)\" href=\"http:\/\/fernstrategy.com\/2011\/03\/10\/arm-disrupting-intel-with-its-business-model\/\" target=\"_blank\">dislike the monopolistic practice<\/a> of <a title=\"Wikipedia: Vendor lock-in\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vendor_lock-in\" target=\"_blank\">vendor lock-in<\/a>).&nbsp; ARM&#x27;s strategy (supported by an increasingly mature software-based design technologies) of effectively decoupling the semiconductor design and fabrication industries into separate markets confers on the ARM ecosystem the strengths of any or all of its participants.<\/p>\n<h2>By contrast, AMD&#x27;s market segment is under pressure from two directions:<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Pressure from ARM; within the fast-growing market for low-energy processors (high processing power per watt or per dollar);<\/li>\n<li>Pressure from Intel; who have the advantage in designing and fabricating processors with the fastest raw processing speed per core or per package.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The only thing going in AMD&#x27;s favour at the moment is their ATI <a title=\"Wikipedia: Graphics Processing Unit&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014; an integrated circuit specially designed for performing matrix and vector transformations; which constitute a major component of modern computing workloads.\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Graphics_processing_unit\" target=\"_blank\">GPUs<\/a> may be supported by the recent standardisation on &ldquo;<a title=\"WikiPedia: OpenCL\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/OpenCL\" target=\"_blank\">OpenCL<\/a>&rdquo;.&nbsp; Because of their excellent personnel and strategic position, ARM is likely to continue growing rapidly, extending their long-term trend of share price increases.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusions: long-term outlook<\/h2>\n<p>Unless Intel fundamentally changes their design strategy, in the long term, they cannot win this competition with ARM for the microprocessor design market, despite their substantial cash and research assets.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.slyman.org\/blog-cdn\/arm-chip-270x202.jpg\" style=\"float:right;margin:0.5em 0.25em 0.5em 0.75em;width:270px;height:202px;\" width=\"270\" height=\"202\" \/>&nbsp; Market share for x86-based designs may grow more slowly in the future and will suffer from shrinking profit margins; eventually squeezing AMD out from the middle of the CPU design market (the author anticipates that by the mid 2020&#x27;s, x86-based designs will cease to retain a significant market share in ordinary people&#x27;s everyday computing needs, so that x86 will become a niche market for legacy or specialist hardware).&nbsp; AMD-ATI&#x27;s rival NVidia (the inventor of the <a title=\"Wikipedia: Graphics Processing Unit\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Graphics_processing_unit\" target=\"_blank\">GPU<\/a>) has already become part of the ARM ecosystem with their new [ARM-CPU + NVidia-GPU] components, and Intel has responded to this move with <a title=\"eweek.com: FTC Sues Intel over Anticompetitive Behavior\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eweek.com\/c\/a\/Desktops-and-Notebooks\/FTC-Sues-Intel-Over-Anticompetitive-Behavior-627340\/\" target=\"_blank\">anti-competitive practices<\/a> <a title=\"CNET: Nvidia files 'Nehalem' countersuit against Intel\" href=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/8301-13924_3-10416699-64.html\" target=\"_blank\">against NVidia<\/a> <span title=\"...read the article in the following link, and consider Intel&#x27;s possible motivations for developing their own Atom-based lightweight laptop design-templates...\">and Apple<\/span> that only serve to underline Intel&#x27;s own assessment that <a title=\"AppleInsider.com: Intel, Google announce mobile partnership for Atom Android smartphones (note the section entitled &ldquo;Apple picks ARM over Atom&rdquo;, which concludes by quoting an outright lie told by Intel&#x27;s Chief Executive.)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.appleinsider.com\/articles\/11\/09\/13\/intel_google_announce_mobile_partnership_for_atom_android_smartphones.html\" target=\"_blank\">ARM&#x27;s ongoing emergence into mainstream computing represents a significant threat to them.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Buy\/hold<\/strong>: <a title=\"Google: London Stock Exchange: ARM share price\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/finance?q=LON:ARM\" target=\"_blank\">ARM<\/a> \u2191<br \/><strong>Shorten<\/strong>: <a title=\"Google: New York Stock Exchange: AMD share price\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/finance?client=ob&#038;q=NYSE:AMD\" target=\"_blank\">AMD<\/a> \u2193<br \/><strong>Draw your own conclusions about<\/strong>: <a title=\"Google: Intel share price&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014; this note about Intel was inserted into this article in September 2011\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/finance?q=NASDAQ:INTC\" target=\"_blank\">Intel<\/a> (note FTC lawsuits and significant market disruption) and <a title=\"Google: NASDAQ: NVidia share price&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014; this note about NVidia was inserted into this article in September 2011\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.co.uk\/finance?client=ob&#038;q=NASDAQ:NVDA\" target=\"_blank\">NVidia<\/a> (ongoing lawsuits and market access issues have been depressing NVidia&#x27;s outlook, but these issues might be mitigated by the expected emergence of a fast-growing market for ARM-based NVidia products).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Disclosures<\/h2>\n<p>At the time of writing, the author holds no financial position in any of the companies discussed in this article.&nbsp; The author is <strong>not<\/strong> professionally qualified in any way to advise on stocks and shares; but does have a degree in <a title=\"Cambridge University: Computer Science\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cl.cam.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">computer science<\/a> earned at <a title=\"Cambridge University\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cambridge University<\/a> and a strong personal interest in microprocessor technology, with almost two decades of occasional reading in industrially relevant journals.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Updates<\/h2>\n<h3>May 4, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Ars Technica: Latest GPU market numbers spell bad news for NVIDIA\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/news\/2011\/05\/latest-gpu-market-numbers-spell-bad-news-for-nvidia.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: GPU market mid-2011: NVIDIA faces transitional challenge arising from dispute with Intel &amp; the rise of the integrated GPU, AMD and Intel set to gain within GPU market.<\/a><br \/>&#x2014;AMD&#39;s decision to buy out ATI was very smart.&nbsp; Overall outlook for AMD is stable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>May 30, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Intel executives opening up publicly to the possibility of manufacturing microprocessors based on ARM architecture:<br \/><a title=\"arstechnica.com: Intel exec throws fuel on the &ldquo;Intel to fab Apple chips&rdquo; rumor fire\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/apple\/news\/2011\/05\/intel-exec-throws-fuel-on-the-intel-to-fab-apple-chips-rumor-fire.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: Intel exec throws fuel on the &ldquo;Intel to fab Apple chips&rdquo; rumor fire<\/a><br \/><a title=\"reuters.com: ARM to &ldquo;take seriously&rdquo; any Intel plan to make chips for rivals\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2011\/05\/30\/us-arm-intel-idUSTRE74T0QL20110530\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters: ARM to &ldquo;take seriously&rdquo; any Intel plan to make chips for rivals<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Jun 3, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"arstechnica.com: Microsoft details specs for Windows 8 tablets, shows off hardware\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/microsoft\/news\/2011\/06\/microsoft-details-specs-for-windows-8-tablets-shows-off-hardware.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft details specs for Windows 8 tablets, shows off hardware<\/a><br \/>&#x2014;significant technical progress has been made to implementing Windows 8 on ARM.&nbsp; The pace of progress may give early indications that the process of recompiling Windows applications for ARM will be relatively straightforward.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Jun 14, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Reuters.com: AMD launches new chips, challenges Intel\" href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2011\/06\/14\/us-amd-idUSTRE75D56G20110614\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters: AMD launches new chips, challenges Intel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Jun 17, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"arstechnica.com: ARM server startup tries jumpstarting datacenter software ecosystem\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/news\/2011\/06\/arm-server-startup-attempts-to-jump-start-datacenter-software-ecosystem.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: ARM server startup tries jumpstarting datacenter software ecosystem<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Oct 21, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Ars Technica: Can AMD survive Bulldozer&#x27;s disappointing debut?\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/news\/2011\/10\/can-amd-survive-bulldozers-disappointing-debut.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: Can AMD survive Bulldozer&#x27;s disappointing debut?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Oct 21, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Ars Technica: ARM&#x27;s new Cortex A7 is tailor-made for Android superphones\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/news\/2011\/10\/arms-new-cortex-a7-is-tailor-made-for-android-superphones.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Ars Technica: ARM&#x27;s new Cortex A7 is tailor-made for Android superphones<\/a><br \/>&#x2014;note that Android is the only major smart-phone operating system supporting Intel&#x27;s competing designs.&nbsp; This new development keeps ARM well ahead of Intel within the only part of the market Intel can presently use as a bridge-head for a belated entry into the smart-phone market.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Oct 25, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"BBC: Chip designer Arm Holdings boosted by new customers\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-15441898\" target=\"_blank\">BBC: Chip designer Arm Holdings boosted by new customers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Oct 26, 2011<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Ars Technica: Citrix claims it will make virtual desktops cheaper than real ones\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/news\/2011\/10\/citrix-details-integration-of-acquired-vendors-prepares-vdi-ready-chips.ars\" target=\"_blank\">Citrix claims it will make virtual desktops cheaper than real ones<\/a><br \/>&#x2014;&ldquo;The HDX system-on-a-chip architecture is initially designed for ARM-based chips but will be expanded to x86.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Feb 10, 2012<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"Microsoft&#x27;s Sinofsky reveals Windows on ARM ambitions&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014;&nbsp;Chris Vallance (BBC)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/technology-16980442\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft&#x27;s Sinofsky reveals Windows on ARM ambitions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Sep 17, 2012<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"AMD&#x27;s stock price plummets amidst CFO resignation&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014;&nbsp;Cyrus Farivar (Ars Technica)\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/business\/2012\/09\/amds-stock-price-plummets-amidst-cfo-resignation\/\" target=\"_blank\">AMD&#x27;s stock price plummets amidst CFO resignation<\/a> &#x2014; in light of AMD&#x27;s apparent difficulties, Intel&#x27;s outlook may brighten in the medium term as Intel expands further into territory vacated by AMD&#x27;s retreat.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Oct 29, 2012<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a title=\"AMD announces ARM-based Opteron CPUs due to launch in 2014&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014;&nbsp;Andrew Cunningham (arstechnica.com)\" href=\"http:\/\/arstechnica.com\/information-technology\/2012\/10\/amd-announces-arm-based-opteron-cpus-due-to-launch-in-2014\/\" target=\"_blank\">AMD announces ARM-based Opteron CPUs due to launch in 2014<\/a> &#x2014; could this move offer AMD an innovative way out of the strategic quandary we have discussed, or, is this a desperate PR gambit from AMD to shore up their beleaguered stocks and shares?&nbsp; Will AMD&#x27;s new ARM-based processors come to market on time to prevent AMD&#27;s demise?&nbsp; Only time will tell&#8230;&nbsp; Either way, it appears that AMD is planning their exit from the x86 ecosystem, leaving Intel to maintain &amp; service an instruction-set they tried to abandon ten years ago for <a title=\"Itanium (IA64)&#xd;&#xa;&#x2014;wikipedia.org\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Itanium\" target=\"_blank\">IA64<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) appears set to dominate microprocessor architecture.&nbsp; The Intel x86 processor market is facing its most serious threat for over a decade, as Microsoft announces that Windows 8 will support ARM&#39;s <a title=\"Instruction Set Architecture\" href=\"http:\/\/webster.cs.ucr.edu\/AoA\/Windows\/HTML\/ISA.html\" target=\"_blank\">ISA<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/arm-to-dominate-microprocessor-architecture\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[87,85,90,88,93,92,86,91,89,94],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-economics","category-semiconductors","tag-amd","tag-arm","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-intel","tag-long-term-outlook","tag-long-term-trend","tag-microprocessor","tag-power-efficiency","tag-shares","tag-strategic-position"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2931,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/2931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slyman.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}