ARM Will Never Be a "$100 Billion Outfit," Says CEO

Posted 09/21/2010 at 5:08am | by Pulkit Chandna

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It can be argued that British chip designer ARM is perhaps one of the most self-effacing tech companies out there. Quite a rarity in a world where tech firms are always on the lookout for opportunities to draw attention to themselves and their products. But with its customers already selling 4 billion chips a year, the Cambridge-based outfit can not possibly evade the limelight.

The New York Times recently caught up with ARM CEO Warren East, who in typical ARM fashion chose to downplay all the talk of the company challenging Intel. Ruling out a “David and Goliath struggle” between the two companies, East said that ARM was never going to be “a $100 billion outfit.” East revealed that he had quite a good laugh with his friends at Apple on hearing rumors of iEverything acquiring the chip designer.

ARM's latest attempt at modesty is, well, very modest. Although it currently doesn't – and may never – measure up to Intel in terms of vital business statistics, the fact is its chip designs are virtually everywhere, and they already pose a huge threat to Intel's hegemony by the virtue of their ubiquity alone.