A processor is the heart of any smartphone, and currently, big companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek pretty much run the show. But Xiaomi might be looking to change things up a bit. They’re apparently working with ARM to make their own processors.
Xiaomi Collaborating with ARM for Chip Development
MediaTek CEO Rick Tsai directly confirmed that ARM is collaborating with Xiaomi on chip development. While the source of this statement comes from a Counterpoint Research report, the original report has been hard to find.
ARM's Previous Collaboration with Oppo
The news initially surfaced through popular tipster Digital Chat Station on Weibo. According to the report, ARM was previously collaborating with Oppo, but the project faced challenges and was eventually abandoned.
To give you more background on this, there were reports in 2022 about Oppo venturing into manufacturing its own smartphone chips with ARM.
Basically, Oppo was most likely to use ARM’s Cortex CPUs and Mali GPUs in their processors. However, Oppo ceased its chip design efforts in 2023 due to a downturn in the global smartphone market.
ARM Finds a New Partner in Xiaomi
Now that Oppo is out of the picture, it seems like ARM has found a new partner in Xiaomi for their own smartphone chipset.
It’ll be interesting to see who Xiaomi picks for chip design and manufacturing. For instance, Apple relies on TSMC for manufacturing A-series Bionic chips, while Google is currently relying on Samsung for Tensor SoCs.
So Xiaomi will also have to choose its partner for this endeavor. ARM will basically provide the base for processors, developing a chip from scratch involves a different set of challenges.
The Complexity of Chip Development
Parv Sharma, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research, also emphasized the complexity of chip development and the trend of companies outsourcing this task. MediaTek, in particular, stands to benefit from this shift as they actively collaborate with smartphone manufacturers to refine chips for their devices.
Only time will tell if Xiaomi can successfully develop its chips from scratch.
