Sometimes it’s just wise to have an, er, chip on your shoulder.
Arm Holdings has hired Rami Sinno, Amazon’s AI chip director, to advance its ambitious plans to develop complete chips rather than just chip designs. Sinno previously led development of Amazon’s Trainium and Inferentia AI chips, bringing critical expertise as Arm shifts from its traditional licensing model to building full semiconductor solutions.
What you should know: This marks a significant strategic pivot for the chip architecture giant, which has historically focused on designing processor blueprints rather than manufacturing complete chips.
- Until now, Arm has operated by designing core architecture and instruction sets that customers like Apple and Nvidia incorporate into their own chips.
- The company collects royalty payments on chips its customers sell, with Arm-based devices powering nearly every smartphone globally.
- Server chips based on Arm’s intellectual property have gained substantial ground in data centers traditionally dominated by AMD and Intel.
Why this matters: Arm’s move into complete chip manufacturing could reshape competitive dynamics in the semiconductor industry, particularly as AI workloads drive demand for specialized processors.
- The shift represents Arm’s broader strategy to expand beyond supplying intellectual property to building comprehensive chip designs and systems.
- As a SoftBank Group majority-owned company, Arm is leveraging its market position to capture more value from the chip ecosystem.
Key details about the hire: Sinno brings proven experience developing AI chips that compete directly with Nvidia’s dominant graphics processors.
- At Amazon, he helped create Trainium and Inferentia chips designed to offer superior performance and lower costs than Nvidia’s AI processors.
- His work was part of Amazon’s broader effort to reduce dependence on expensive third-party AI hardware.
The bigger picture: Arm has been systematically building its chip development capabilities through strategic hires from major technology companies.
- The company recently brought on Nicolas Dube from HPE, who has extensive large-scale systems design experience.
- Steve Halter, a chip engineer from Intel and Qualcomm, also joined as part of this expansion effort.
- In July, CEO Rene Haas disclosed plans to invest company profits into developing chiplets and complete systems.
What’s next: Reuters first reported on Arm’s chip development plans in sealed court exhibits from a December trial, with the company actively recruiting executives from competitors since February.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...