英特尔和ARM：换个CEO，接着开打

    ARM需要做一些改变吗？

    在沃伦•伊斯特（ARM现任CEO）的领导下，我们的团队一直非常稳定。但是最近几年，有几位在这里工作多年的高管离开了公司，这也不是什么秘密。现在的团队不同于多年来带领我们走到这里的团队。我在这里已经工作了很长时间。我现在的挑战是，如何让我们的团队继续沿着过去几十年的路径前进。目前，ARM业务中没有什么结构性问题显示这一模式不再适用。事实上，在面临经济和科技挑战的当今，这一模式只有更加适用。合作模式是解决这些挑战的极佳方式。因此，我根本不担心这个问题，也根本不担心半导体需求。这关乎继续和坚持——确保ARM的领导团队是有效的，员工知道我们的目标，在公司成长的过程中不丢失企业文化。这些挑战并非只有ARM一家公司正在面临。

    今天有关摩尔定律（Moore's Law）的探讨，与10年或20年前有何不同？（摩尔定律认为，半导体行业安装在电脑芯片上的晶体管数量每18至24个月将增加一倍。）

    不同的一点是，今天已有足够的历史经验可以证明技术挑战是可以被解决的。现在人们讨论的是，既然我们已经解决了这些问题，使用这些技术解决方案是否经济可行。在摩尔定律讨论中，这是如今人们更加担心的内容。过去的担心是如何缩小晶体管体积。晶体管规模成本已呈指数倍下降。摩尔定律并非铁律，这背后没有自然规律。这只是一项至今仍然没有被打破的预测。但现在，人们开始担忧晶体管规模成本会上升，如果成本真得上升，该怎么办。关于替代材料和碳纳米管有很多的研究，实验室内的研究都着眼于如何持续缩小体积。但到头来你能否承担这一解决方案的成本，是一项挑战。不过我不爱杞人忧天。当前科技以越来越富创意的方式存在，我们有足够的方式去利用科技。

    ARM现任CEO离职时还相当年轻，而保罗•欧德宁（英特尔即将离职的CEO）的离职是人们预期之中的。你认为这是为什么？

    我不能代表保罗•欧德宁发言，但我很了解沃伦，他已在ARM担任了12年的CEO，这是相当长的CEO任期。这显然是一个要求高的工作。要求每天24小时，一周7天的工作，以及频繁的飞行。换做任何一个人，在人生的某个时刻，都会说，“你知道吗，我想有段时间做做其他事情。”沃伦做这件事很久了。他想把这项工作交给其他人。我们有很多共同的理念，但我们是不同的自然个体，我们会有不同的方式。在年龄上，我有一点点优势，希望我的身体还能绕地球多飞几年，而且，基于我对公司的了解，我可以确保我们继续朝着正确的方向前进。（财富中文网）

    Are there changes that need to take place at ARM?

    Under Warren's [East, ARM's current CEO] leadership we've had an incredibly stable team. But over the last couple of years it's no secret that a couple of executives who've been there a long time have left. The current team is different from the team that got us here. I've been there a long time. My challenge right now is making sure that the team continues the path forward that we've enjoyed the last couple of decades. There's nothing structural about ARM's business that says the model that we have doesn't apply anymore. In fact what we have is even more applicable today as we face economic challenges and technology challenges. This partnership model is a great way of addressing this. So that doesn't worry me at all, and the demand for semiconductors doesn't worry me at all. It's about keeping it all going -- making sure that the leadership team at ARM is effective, that employees get where we're going, that as the company grows we don't lose the culture. These are not unique challenges to ARM.

    What's different about the conversation around Moore's Law today versus 10 or 20 years ago? (Moore's Law states that the number of transistors the industry can place on a computer chip will double every 18 to 24 months).

    What's different is that there's enough history to say the technical challenges can get solved. What people now talk about is, now that we've solved them, is it economically viable to use the technology solutions. That's what people are worrying about more now on the Moore's Law conversation than they ever were. Previously it was about what are we going to do to shrink the transistors. The cost per transistors has gone down exponentially. Moore's law isn't a law, there's no natural thing behind it. It's a prediction that has held up. Now people are worried about does the cost per transistor start to go up, and if it does, what do you do about that. There's plenty of research going on into alternate materials, carbon nanotubes, all these things are being worked on in a lab somewhere to keep scaling. But whether you can afford the solution at the end of the day is the challenge. I'm not worried about people saying, well unless the next generation comes along the world will end. There are plenty of ways to use the technology as it exists today in more and more creative ways.

    Your current CEO is leaving at a rather young age, and Paul Otellini (Intel's outgoing CEO) is stepping down ahead of when everybody expected. Why do you think this is?

    I can't speak for Paul Otellini, but I've known Warren very well, and he's been the CEO of ARM for 12 years, which is a long time to be a CEO. It's clearly a demanding job. It is 24/7, and you fly a lot. At some point in anyone's life you say, "You know, I'd like to go do something else for a while." Warren's been doing this a long time. He wants to hand it over to someone else. We share a lot of common philosophies, but naturally we're different people, we'll have a different approach. I've got a little bit of an age advantage on him, and hopefully I can put up with lapping the planet for a few more years, and based on my knowledge of the company I can keep moving us in the right direction.