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Apple has been designing their own CPU's for a decade, using the ARM ISA. Apple has a perpetual license to the ISA though, so they would not be a source of future revenue.

Apple is also under no obligation to stick with ARM's roadmap for future products.

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This is something I have wondered about and had no idea they basically had some sort of perpetual license. Is this normal for ARM to give out such a license? Or are all ARM licenses basically typically under those conditions? I know ARM mostly just licenses specs to their chips.

ARM is a joint venture that Apple started with Acorn and VLSI.

Article from 1990: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-28-fi-4993-s...

Wow I had no idea, now a lot of things make more sense to me about why Apple is going the route they are. I honestly wish them nothing but success. Part of me hopes they license their own chips down the line. The Intel monopoly over desktop systems needs to end.

Not under current market.

Apple got as big as it is by vertically integrating everything and creating walled gardens.

Apple + Acorn Computers = ARM[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Computers#ARM_Ltd.

I know that, I meant their own new CPU with their own ISA. I am sure I read about that a while back.

Like the Scorpius (1989)?

https://archive.org/details/scorpius_architecture

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