1bn ARM chips shipped in mobile devices in Q3

1bn ARM chips shipped in mobile devices in Q3
1bn ARM chips shipped in mobile devices in Q3

ARM shipped a whopping one billion chips in mobile devices in the last quarter, with profit before tax up 44 per cent year on year.

The British chip giant announced its A7 processor last week, but its older technology is still doing the business, and the Q3 figures paint a healthy picture.

On top of 1 billion chips in mobile devices, ARM declared that 900 million chips were shipped in consumer and embedded devices – a 40 per cent increase.

Driving Licenses

CEO Warren East said: "In the third quarter of 2011, we saw a continued high level of design activity with many new customers licensing ARM technology for the first time, driven by end market requirements for smarter, low-power chips.

"Demand for our technology has come from a broad range of applications, from sensors to computers.

"Over the last year we have seen strong growth in shipments of ARM technology-based chips, with a 50% increase of shipments into non-mobile markets such as digital TVs, microcontrollers and networking applications.

"Royalty revenues in Q3 have been impacted by the below seasonal growth in the semiconductor industry, but we continue to gain share.

"With customers looking to design ARM technology into a widening product portfolio, ARM is continuing to invest in the development of new products to drive long-term growth in our revenues, profits and cash."

With products sporting the Cortex A15 processor expected in 2012, and 2013 likely to see a raft of lower cost smartphones with ARM's A7 processor, it's certainly a positive time for ARM.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.