ARM continues to diversify its business
1 min read
ARM's latest financial results seem to have brought a smile to the faces of those habitual wearers of red braces in the City of London. Revenues in the second quarter – on a dollar basis, because 90% of the company's sales are conducted in that currency – were up by 17% compared to Q2 2013. The boost in revenues was also accompanied by a larger than would be expected tranche of licencing activity, reflecting 'strong demand' for its latest technology.
The jump in sales was largely due to a 42% year in year jump in licensing revenues. And the 41 processor licences signed in the quarter also brought a smile to the various faces involved. The reason? Licences signed today mean revenues tomorrow.
Seven of the licences signed are for Cortex-A cores based on the 64bit v8 architecture. This takes the number of such deals to 50, including a number of architecture licences. "This bodes well for growth in ARM's medium and long term royalty revenues," said CEO Simon Segars.
Meanwhile, the seemingly humble Cortex-M range continues to perform well for the company, with another 20 licences signed in the last quarter. Cortex-M cores now feature in 33% of all ARM based devices shipping and 35% of Cortex-M based products go into the embedded market.
It's a far cry from where ARM used to be. Not that long ago, ARM was almost entirely dependent upon the mobile phone market. Now, that figure is down to 43% as the company builds into other sectors.
