ARM believes that Intel's attempts to crack the mobile phone market have served to highlight just how dominant the British company's designs are in the post-PC world.
One of the UK's most successful companies, ARM-designed chips are in everything from digital cameras to the latest tablets, and yet the Cambridge-based technology firm is a long way from being a household name.
Speaking to TechRadar, executive vice president Lance Howarth admitted that ARM needed to "raise its game" in terms of bringing the brand to the fore, but only if the balance is right for their huge network of partners.
Anonymous ubiquity
"Three years ago I'd say we suffered with anonymous ubiquity," said Howarth. "We were everywhere, but nobody knew.
"Now we're starting to see a transition because of mobile devices. The awareness of ARM and the types and diversity of the devices we are in is becoming talked about.
"The arrival of Windows 8 on ARM is accelerating that even further.
"So one of our challenges is getting this balance right, supporting our federation and partnership against the empire of Intel. It's how we join up our efforts – so that the combined aggregate total is not just ARM against Intel, but Qualcomm TI NDS and so on
ARM
: "One of the best things that's ever happened to us is Intel trying to come into the smartphone space"
"We're all joined by a common set of values which is the people have united around the ARM architechture.
"My utopian goal is that when you guys talk about technology, say the latest HTC phone – that it isn't HTC on Qualcomm but HTC on Qualcomm which is ARM – I want to get ARM into almost every article."
Intel has been a hugely dominant force in silicon chips for many years, especially in the realm of computers, with the x86 architecture the basis for almost every PC for years.
With times changing, however, Intel is now looking to the mobile device market – something that Howard believes has brought unforeseen benefits.
"One of the best things that's ever happened to us, quite frankly, is Intel trying to come into the smartphone space," he said.
"We're a UK company and as a consequence we don't normally fit into the US tech coverage, so when Intel come along and say 'we're getting into smartphones' all the Germans say 'hold on, we've already got smartphones – and if you aren't in smartphones then who is?'
"So they say 'it's Qualcomm and Nvidia and Ti and, oh they are using this technology from ARM', so suddenly your message is getting out there."
