Chip designer Arm has hired Amazon's artificial intelligence chip director Rami Sinno as it pushes into developing its processors, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Sinno played a key role in Amazon's in-house AI chips, Trainium and Inferentia, built to run large-scale AI applications at a lower cost than Nvidia's graphics processors.
Until now, Arm has not manufactured its own chips. The UK-based firm designs processor architectures and instruction sets that it licenses to major customers such as Apple and Nvidia. In July 2024, Chief Executive Rene Haas said Arm would reinvest part of its profits into building chiplets, smaller function-specific components, and potentially complete systems.
Expanding beyond licensing
According to Reuters, Arm has been building an internal team for chip and system development. The company has brought in Nicolas Dube, a former Hewlett Packard Enterprise executive with experience in large-scale systems, and Steve Halter, a veteran chip engineer from Intel and Qualcomm.
Arm's model has centered on licensing technology that dominates smartphones and is increasingly used in data centers. But moving into full chipmaking risks conflicts with major customers even as it opens new revenue streams.
AI ambitions gain momentum
Wccftech reported that Sinno's hiring signals Arm's push deeper into CPUs and AI accelerators. CEO Rene Haas has talked about "full-end solutions" as a way to move beyond licensing as the company's main business.
Arm's architecture is already gaining ground in data centers, with Nvidia's Grace CPU playing a big role. Wccftech noted that Arm's move into in-house chip development also has the backing of its majority owner, SoftBank Group.
According to Reuters and Wccftech, entering processor manufacturing would put Arm in direct competition with Nvidia, Intel, and AMD. Nvidia dominates the AI training market, while Intel and AMD control most of the data center CPU business.
Even so, Arm's chip designs already power billions of devices worldwide. With Sinno now on board, analysts expect the company to accelerate plans for its first AI-focused processor.
Nvidia Grace CPU and Arm Architecture. Credit: Nvidia
Article edited by Jerry Chen
