芯片市场争夺战：ARM死磕英特尔

    如果把你的智能手机拆开瞧瞧，你很可能会发现，里面的芯片并不是英特尔（Intel）牌的，而是ARM牌的。ARM控股（ARM Holdings）是一家英国的芯片设计商，总部位于英国剑桥，该公司现在已经统治了移动设备市场。光是上个季度，就有11亿个ARM的节能微处理器被安装在了手机和平板电脑里。但是它的雄心壮志却并不仅限于此。最近几个月，ARM正在在制订进军个人电脑和服务器市场的计划。

    与此同时，芯片大佬英特尔却反其道行之，加紧在快速增长的移动市场上攻城掠地。英特尔是全球最大的芯片制造商，也是个人电脑和服务器市场的霸主，但它的处理器却一直未能打入移动设备市场。不过最近，英特尔成功拿下了几款平板电脑处理器的业务，可谓小有斩获。另外英特尔还表示，一款安装了英特尔Medfiled处理器的手机将在今年年底前面世。

    英特尔和ARM狭路相逢，拼杀已久。现在两家公司都以攻为守，在对方领土上的争夺也将逐步加剧。明年，安装了英特尔芯片的平板电脑和智能手机将对移动市场发起总攻，而ARM的处理器也将杀入笔记本电脑市场【微软（Microsoft）即将推出Windows 8系统，届时一些运行Windows 8的笔记本将安装ARM的芯片】。也就是说，就在英特尔进军一个大热的全新领域的同时，ARM正在挥师进攻一个传统阵地。当然，任何一家公司要想打破对方在该市场上的垄断，都不是一件容易的事。

    英特尔正在努力研发一款用于智能手机和平板电脑的低能耗微处理器。倒是ARM的高管率先承认，英特尔的进逼的确令他们感到担心。ARM市场部执行副总裁伊恩•德鲁曾在英特尔公司任职14年之久，他坦言道：“永远不能低估英特尔。我在英特尔干了很多年，深知英特尔是一家卓越的制造企业。”

    除了卓越的制造能力之外，无论是从人力资源，还是从收益上看，英特尔的规模都让ARM相形见绌。不过ARM的业务模式决定了该公司并不需要把自己打造成一个市值百十亿美元的商业帝国。和英特尔不同的是，ARM自己是不生产芯片的，而是把自己的芯片技术授权给高通（Qualcomm）、德州仪器（Texas Instruments）和英伟达（Nvida）这种公司来生产。一台设备如果安装了ARM的芯片，ARM就会收取一定的版权费用。

    瑞银（UBS）分析师乌切•奥尔吉指出：“ARM有很好的架构，后劲很足；英特尔则有卓越的制造能力。现在很难说这两家公司究竟谁能在竞争中胜出。这个谜底至少在四五年之内恐怕还难以揭晓。”

    与此同时，业界纷纷推测，这两家公司各自会攫取哪些细分市场。市场研究公司IHS iSuppli最近表示，该公司预计到2015年，全球22.9%的新出厂笔记本将安装ARM的处理器。

    在长期看来，英特尔和ARM的竞争对于消费性电子厂商，乃至对于对消费者来说，都是个利好消息。何以见得？因为芯片制造商的竞争升温，最终将拉低芯片价格。不过现在我们还无法预知哪家公司最终将赢得这场竞争。

    瑞银分析师奥尔吉称：“我认为他们各自会在一个有限的范围内获得成功。我预计明年会出现安装了ARM芯片的电脑，同时市面上也会出现安装了英特尔芯片的移动设备。”

    译者：朴成奎

    Crack open your smartphone, and chances are there's ARM—not Intel—inside. The British chip designer commands the mobile market. Last quarter alone, 1.1 billion of its power-efficient microprocessors were shipped in phones and tablets. But Cambridge-based ARM Holdings (ARMH) has bigger ambitions. In recent months, it has been talking up plans to get its chip designs into PCs and servers as well.

    Meanwhile, Intel's (INTC) been ramping up its efforts at penetrating the fast-growing mobile market. The world's largest chipmaker owns the PC and server markets, but has failed to get its processors into smaller mobile devices. Recently, though, Intel scored several (albeit small) tablet wins. And it has said a phone powered by its Medfield processor will be unveiled by end of this year.

    The two companies have long been on a collision course, but their battle for each other's territory is about to heat up. By next year, Intel-running tablets and phones will have finally hit the market and ARM-based processors will have made their way into notebook computers (like those running Microsoft's (MSFT) upcoming Windows 8). That will leave Intel breaking into a hot new sector just as ARM begins cracking open an old-line market.Of course, neither company is going to have an easy time taking on the other's monopoly.

    Intel has struggled to get a low-power processor into smartphones and tablets, but ARM executives are the first to admit they are worried about the encroaching competition. "You never discount Intel," says Ian Drew, executive VP of marketing at ARM and a 14-year Intel veteran. "I've worked there long enough to know that they are a supreme manufacturing company."

    In addition to superior manufacturing capabilities, Intel's size—whether measured in manpower or revenues—dwarfs ARM's. Then again, ARM's business model doesn't require building multi-billion-dollar fabs. Unlike Intel, ARM doesn't actually manufacture chips. Instead, it licenses its technology to companies like Qualcomm (QCOM), Texas Instruments (TXN) and Nvidia (NVDA) and collects royalties on every device shipped with its architecture.

    "ARM has great architecture and a lot of momentum behind them and Intel has superior manufacturing," says UBS analyst Uche Orji. "Calling this one will be tough—the answer to this riddle won't be clear until at least four to five years."

    In the meantime, predictions of who will grab what portion of market share are running rampant. Research firm IHS iSuppli recently said it projects that by 2015, 22.9% of notebook shipments worldwide will be ARM-based systems.

    In the long run, the rivalry could be good news for consumer electronics manufacturers—and possibly even for consumers. Why? Because increasing competition among chip suppliers could eventually drive down prices. But it's not clear either company will end up "winning" this match.

    "I think they will both be successful to a limited extent," says UBS's Orji. "I expect to see some ARM PCs next year, and I also expect to see some Intel handsets in the market next year."