On the same day that it released a slew of new Pentium processors, including a raft of units destined for the mobile market, Intel Corp also updated its license relationship with ARM Holdings Plc, suggesting that the UK company’s core processor is still the real heart of the chip king’s mobile device strategy.
Intel has been selling StrongARM devices into the handheld and intelligent device space since it acquired the business from Digital Equipment Corp as part of a patent infringement settlement in 1997. It confirmed that StrongARM would remain its chief embedded system offering in May, when it unveiled next generation details of the family at the Embedded Processor Forum. Now it has completed the refreshment of its licensing agreement with Cambridge, UK-based ARM, whose system on chip silicon intellectual property is the foundation for Intel’s StrongARM family.
According to an Intel spokesperson, the new deal is a multi-year license agreement, that gives Intel rights to a current and future ARM designs, beginning with the latest 5TE architecture. The agreement is not entirely open ended, but it should see Intel continuing with ARM compatible development for the foreseeable future.
