Chapter 83

The ARM architecture was developed by the British company Acorn for its own PCs, but it was not until more than a decade later, in the era of mobile internet, that it truly came into its own, completely overshadowing Intel.

However, in the field of PC processors, ARM has never achieved any success. Before Li Xuan's rebirth, the latest ARM15, which aimed to carve out a share of the PC and server markets, met with a resounding failure.

The reason for this was that Intel's influence in the PC market was deeply entrenched. ARM was significantly different from the existing x86 Windows, unable to support existing software, and lacked specialized applications, leading to the failure of ARM15. In fact, from the very beginning, the ARM architecture never kept pace with the advancements of Intel's x86 architecture. By the time it finally began to close the technological gap, Intel had already established a thick, invisible barrier in the PC market. The software compatibility issue alone was enough to deter potential users.

Application developers would not invest significant research and development efforts into a new processor with an uncertain future, as they did with Intel's x86 architecture. Users who wanted to adopt the new processor would have to endure a lack of available software.

Not just ARM, but all other RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) architecture processors have never posed a real threat to Intel in the PC market. Intel's processors were not technologically superior; on the contrary, for a long time, each new Intel CPU was criticized by the industry as being worthless.

However, Intel's advantage of forward compatibility spared software developers the cost of starting from scratch, and it was this backward-compatible CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) that allowed Intel to dominate the PC market, sweeping away all competitors. RISC architectures were unable to gain a foothold in the personal PC market and were eventually relegated to the workstation and server markets.

Although the historical trajectory suggested that a direct confrontation between ARM and Intel's x86 would lead to a bleak future, Li Xuan refused to accept this fate. He understood that the reason ARM failed to gain a foothold in the PC market in his previous life was due to timing.

ARM was a classic example of being born at the wrong time. In Li Xuan's view, it was five years too late to achieve its full potential. Just as it was introduced, it was already behind. Moreover, Acorn's financial situation was poor, limiting its research and development investment, creating a vicious cycle.

The technological lag prevented ARM processors from generating profits for Acorn, and without profits, Acorn could not increase its R&D investment to catch up with Intel's x86. As a result, ARM fell behind in the competition with x86 and never had the chance to compete on equal footing.

In 1990, with the support of Apple and VLSI Technology, ARM separated from Acorn and formed a new company, ARM Holdings, which initially had only twelve employees. It wasn't until TI and Nokia joined the ARM camp that the company's financial situation improved, and the number of employees reached fifty by 1993.

However, in the field of technology research and development, input is directly proportional to output. With only a handful of people, even if each person could do the work of ten, ARM could not match the thousands of researchers at Intel. Therefore, ARM later shifted its focus to the mobile communication sector, avoiding direct competition with Intel.

By the time ARM became dominant in the mobile market, it was no longer content to remain in its niche and decided to challenge the PC market again. This time, it faced not only technological competition but also market monopolization. Intel, too, had ambitions in the mobile market, and both sides suffered significant setbacks in their attempts to penetrate each other's territories. Establishing a foothold in a market where the other party already had a monopoly was extremely difficult.

Li Xuan, familiar with this history, saw an opportunity for ARM—a five-year head start. Before IBM's PC entered the market, the most popular microcomputers were Apple's series, such as the Apple I and Apple II, which used the MOS6502 processor, while Intel's 8086 was not particularly prominent.

IBM saw the rapid commercialization of microcomputers, represented by Apple, which were replacing its mid-range and mainframe computers, leading to the company's first negative profit growth in 1979. The IBM leadership decided to quickly launch a competitive microcomputer to reclaim the market, resulting in the IBM PC.

The IBM PC did not make IBM the dominant force in the personal computer era, but it did create the Wintel alliance, which shaped the fundamental landscape of the information technology era. Many PC clone manufacturers bitterly complained to journalists that selling a computer for 100 yuan, Intel took 70 yuan, and Microsoft took 40 yuan. The implications of this statement were profound.

However, if ARM could strongly challenge IBM's PC before the formation of the Wintel alliance, the future could have been very different. A 32-bit ARM2 would naturally be inferior to a 32-bit 80386, but compared to the 16-bit 80286, it would have a performance advantage, not to mention the 8086 and the crippled 8088.

Of course, real market competition is not just about stacking data. The RISC-designed ARM architecture had the advantage of being simple and practical compared to the CISC-designed x86 architecture, but it also had its drawbacks. For example, RISC processors, due to their high speed, required more memory capacity.

However, this was the best solution Li Xuan could think of to challenge the future giant Intel. The rebirth halo was not omnipotent and could not magically create a new processor to rival x86. As for developing it himself, he lacked the confidence.

In his previous life, he was just one of many engineers in Silicon Valley, far from being a technical genius. The few well-known instruction set architectures included ARM, which he was most familiar with, especially in embedded development. This familiarity gave him the confidence to bring ARM forward in time.

Even if ARM were to repeat its past failures in the competition with x86, it would not be a significant issue. By getting a head start with ARM, Li Xuan would have a foothold in the future mobile communication era, providing a fallback.

The full name of ARM is Acorn RISC Machine (Acorn Reduced Instruction Set Computer). In this life, since Li Xuan decided to take action, he changed its name to East RISC Machine (Eastern Reduced Instruction Set Computer), abbreviated as ERM.

The ERM processor research team was the most important project in the semiconductor laboratory, receiving priority in funding, equipment, personnel, and facilities. Although Professor Zhao Weiming was the official head of the project, Li Xuan was the true guiding mind.

Initially, Zhao Weiming saw Li Xuan as a promising student, but as they became more familiar, Li Xuan no longer hid his capabilities. His constant stream of innovative ideas, which initially shocked everyone, eventually became routine. Zhao Weiming had long since stopped being surprised.

He wondered if he had been living in a daze for so many years. Fortunately, people in the technology field are generally straightforward, and Zhao Weiming simply saw Li Xuan as a once-in-a-century technical genius, as such prodigies are not unheard of in the tech world.