Here is a list of major ARM licensees, categorized by the type of license they typically hold.
1. Architectural Licensees (Most Flexible)
These companies hold an Architectural License, which allows them to design their own CPU cores (and often GPUs/NPUs) that are compatible with the ARM instruction set. This is the highest level of partnership and requires significant engineering resources.
Apple: The most famous example. They design the "A-series" and "M-series" chips (e.g., A17 Pro, M4) for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Their cores are often industry-leading in single-core performance.
Qualcomm: Historically used ARM's core designs but has increasingly moved to its own custom "Kryo" CPU cores (which are still ARM-compatible) for its Snapdragon processors. Their recent "Oryon" cores (in the Snapdragon X Elite) are a fully custom design for PCs.
NVIDIA: Designs its own "Denver" and "Grace" CPU cores for its superchips focused on AI and data centers. They also hold a license for the full ARM architecture for their future roadmap.
Samsung: Uses a mixed strategy. For its Exynos processors, some generations use semi-custom "M" series cores alongside ARM's stock cores.
Amazon (Annapurna Labs): Designs the "Graviton" series of processors for its AWS cloud services, offering high performance and cost efficiency for cloud workloads.
Google: Has developed its own custom ARM-based CPU cores, expected to power future Pixel devices and Google data centers.
Microsoft: Reported to be designing its own ARM-based server and consumer chips, following the trend of major cloud providers.
2. "Cores & IP" Licensees (The Common Path)
These companies license pre-designed CPU cores, GPU designs, and other system IP from ARM. They then integrate these components into their own System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs. This is the most common licensing model.
MediaTek: A massive player in smartphones (especially mid-range and entry-level), smart TVs, and other consumer devices.
Broadcom: Uses ARM cores in its networking chips, set-top box SoCs, and data center solutions.
Texas Instruments (TI): Uses ARM cores extensively in its popular Sitara line of microprocessors for industrial and embedded applications.
NXP Semiconductors: A leader in automotive, industrial, and IoT microcontrollers and processors, almost exclusively using ARM cores.
STMicroelectronics (STM): A major force in microcontrollers (STM32 family) and automotive, heavily reliant on ARM Cortex-M and Cortex-A cores.
Renesas: A key supplier in the automotive and industrial sectors, using ARM cores in its R-Car and RA microcontroller families.
AMD: Uses ARM cores in some of its adaptive SoCs (Xilinx) and for security processors (e.g., the Platform Security Processor or PSP in Ryzen CPUs).
Intel: While primarily an x86 company, its foundry business (IFS) is an ARM licensee to enable chip manufacturing for others, and it has used ARM cores in some products like the now-discontinued Intel XScale.
Here is a list of major ARM licensees, categorized by the type of license they typically hold. 1. Architectural Licensees (Most Flexible)
These companies hold an Architectural License, which allows them to design their own CPU cores (and often GPUs/NPUs) that are compatible with the ARM instruction set. This is the highest level of partnership and requires significant engineering resources.
2. "Cores & IP" Licensees (The Common Path)These companies license pre-designed CPU cores, GPU designs, and other system IP from ARM. They then integrate these components into their own System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs. This is the most common licensing model.