Arm-based notebook computing chips jumped nine-fold in revenue terms and five-fold in unit terms in 2020, according to Strategy Analytics.

"We estimate that notebook computing chips accounted for just 1% of total Arm-based computing revenue in 2020," Strategy Analytics analyst Sravan Kundojjala wrote in a blog post. "However, we expect this revenue to grow significantly, thanks to Apple's M-series, Qualcomm's Nuvia CPU cores, MediaTek's partnership with Nvidia on RTX GPU cores, Samsung's partnership with AMD on RDNA 2 GPU cores, Google's Tensor and Arm v9."

It is worth noting that Qualcomm, Apple and MediaTek together captured almost three-fourths of mobile computing chip revenue share in 2020, Strategy Analytics said.

Despite their dominance in smartphone and tablet markets, Arm-based mobile processor vendors have long struggled to break into the notebook computing market. This can be attributed to a lack of strong software support, performance advantage versus x86 and channel support. In addition, until 2014, Intel has had an edge in semiconductor process technology, which is crucial in offering higher computing power by packing more transistors. However, Arm-based foundries TSMC and Samsung Foundry matched and even overtook Intel in recent years, enabling the Arm-based chip ecosystem to offer more computing power.

In 2020, Apple gave a much-needed boost to Arm camp with its Apple Silicon M1. Apple has started replacing Intel's x86-based chips in its laptops and desktops with an in-house Apple Silicon M1 processor. Strategy Analytics believes mobile computing wars will heat up further as Arm-based vendors Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung LS, among others expand their offerings to address the notebook computing market.

Driven by breakthrough improvements in transistor technologies and CPU performance, Arm-based vendors finally made a dent in the notebook computing market in 2020, Strategy Analytics indicated. For example, Arm's latest Cortex-A710 offers over two-fold performance compared to 2018's Cortex-A75. Apple carried the torch for Arm-based companies with its Apple Silicon M1 processor in 2020. In addition, MediaTek capitalized on its early mover advantage in the Chrome OS ecosystem to gain market share.

By: DocMemory
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