Arguably it's a Microsoft failure more than anything.
If they had delivered a version of Windows for ARM capable of seamlessly emulating x86 code with no compromises and released it a decade ago the world would likely be different.
This is hardly possible on most ARM chips because x86 has a much stronger memory model than ARM. Also concerning "with no compromises": common x86 implementations have a very fast implementation of the SIMD instruction sets (SSE..., AVX/AVX2, perhaps AVX-512) that is much slower to emulate on ARM because their SIMD instruction set is different. The only reason why people don't realize this is that a lot of common software makes no intense use of these SIMD instructions. Then there are the subtle parts that (as far as I am aware) the ARM FPU handles multiplication of denormalized floating-point numbers slightly different than x86 (both implementations are allowed by the standard) etc.
Why? My impression is that due to Apples permissive licence, they are able to make more changes. If we just look at the mess that ARM is making of Qualcomm situation, where we finally have a performing alternative chip.
Arm hasn't granted anyone else the ability to make significantly modified chips for multiple platforms, so Nuvia were fine while it was all just research.
> Arm's claim against Qualcomm and Nuvia is about protecting the Arm ecosystem and partners who rely on our IP and innovative designs, and therefore enforcing Qualcomm's contractual obligation to destroy and stop using the Nuvia designs that were derived from Arm technology
Its rather telling that Qualcomm are allowed to make mobile chips, but not these ones because they want to "protect the ARM ecosystem".
RISC V can't come soon enough.
> Arm hasn't granted anyone else the ability to make significantly modified chips for multiple platforms,
> so Nuvia were fine while it was all just research.
Qualcomm acquired Nuvia with the clear plan of using their IP for other use-cases ("powering flagship smartphones, next-generation laptops, and digital cockpits, as well as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, extended reality and infrastructure networking solutions"). Apart from the fact that Nuvia had no license for these markets, the acquisition voided the license they had and the contract states that without license all the IP developed under the license has to be destroyed.
There is no dispute on this, Qualcomm confirmed this in court, but they argue that they have ANOTHER license they want to transfer the IP to, and that the terms of the ARM-Nuvia Agreement are offending and "a threat to the industry"
> Its rather telling that Qualcomm are allowed to make mobile chips, but not these ones because they want to "protect the ARM ecosystem".
ARM has designed new architectures (Blackhawk, Cortex-X) which achieve comparable performance to Nuvia's IP, but Qualcomm's assumption is that they can apply Nuvia's IP on top of their existing architecture without the need of licensing any new ARM design.
Even now ARM is niche.
So there's a catch 22 here. ARM was niche on desktop because no-one made the first move. That is, until Apple launched the M1, which is exactly the failure of imagination of Microsoft that GP is talking about. Though a quick google shows they did indeed investigate this avenue in 2016 for Windows 10, though they obviously didn't commit to it:
> On December 7, 2016, Microsoft announced that, as part of a partnership with Qualcomm, it planned to introduce support for running Win32 software on ARM architecture with a 32-bit x86 processor emulator, in 2017. Terry Myerson stated that this move would enable the production of Qualcomm Snapdragon-based Windows devices with cellular connectivity and improved power efficiency over Intel-compatible devices, and still capable of running the majority of existing Windows software (unlike the previous Windows RT, which was restricted to Windows Store apps). Microsoft is initially targeting this project towards laptops.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#Features_in_develop...
they definitely were asking for longer battery life and cooling systems less noisy than a fighter jet, but the supply side of the market was a desert filled with minefields and duds until the M1.
x86 already was on its way towards such a goal.
And it took the threat of the PC industry moving to ARM to light a fire under Intel.