SOFTBANK's $32.2 billion acquisition ARM, Masayoshi Son, the ultimate goal of exposure-IT information

"Before this, I had never heard of any matters related to the acquisition. On July 17 to Sunday, ARM 14 core management of all received messages, request Sunday at 7 o'clock in the evening must be rushed to the company. "On November 2, the current ARM of global marketing and Vice President of strategic alliances for Ian Ferguson in the memories of the SOFTBANK acquisition ARM of a curtain, still feel a bit of trance," our idea is that either we were open, or the CEO leaving, or because it is acquired. ”

After entering the Conference Room of the company, and swing from the desktop have beer, wine and other farms, Ian feeling is good news, but when that acquisition, the purchase price and the valuation of the company at that moment, Ian is shocked. Subsequently, the ARM CEO Simon Segars told executives of the company, management, corporate culture, business model without any changes, all the executives are relieved.

Ian Ferguson joined the ARM as early as 2007. This acquisition ARM core Executive amazed again and again.

Finally, the soft 43% of silver to $32.2 billion, a premium ARM. This involved trading global hegemony in the field of chip design, confidential leak from start to finish, so just released, like depth charges, triggering global chip industry giant earthquakes.

"First amazed, and then think about it think it, acquisitions keep the ARM after independence and values, the only non-chip manufacturers like SOFTBANK can do. "ARM Noel Hurley, General Manager of Marketing Division, told reporters. He received the news on Monday morning, when he was on his way to work, "I am pleased that, with SOFTBANK's support, we will have more long-term strategic considerations. ”

In fact, independence is in this interview, Ian to the 21st century business Herald and other media refers to maximum number of words. Facing questions about the independence of the SOFTBANK acquisition ARM, Ian has repeatedly stressed that ARM management, corporate culture, and business models will not have any change, it is a condition of the acquisition is reached with the premise.

ARM independent operation

To some extent, for ARM executives, SOFTBANK's acquisition that they breathed sighs of relief.

ARM is the overlord of the global smart-phone chip market structure, through continuous research and development of semiconductor intellectual property (IP), then IP paid licensed to partners such as Apple, Qualcomm and mediatek, manufactured by partner chip. Public data show that current applications based on ARM processor has more than 85% smart mobile devices (including smart phones, Tablet PCs and laptops) been applied, 50% Smartphone ARMv8, known as the "mobile heart" without too much.

Independence in the chip industry, constitute ARM's big advantage. In 2010, the company was interested in acquiring ARM, but was refused. The ARM CEO Warren East said, ARM company "as a stand-alone company worth more." Therefore, the ARM sale to SOFTBANK is, many industry insiders say incomprehensible.

"ARM the Board composition, including 3, Masayoshi Son, SOFTBANK's Member, 3 others are ARM executives, including Simon Segars. "Ian to the 21st century business Herald said. In describing relationship with SOFTBANK, he stressed that the ARM can remain independent, and is characteristic of SOFTBANK. "Like Apple, SOFTBANK has no direct competition with our customers. Further, even chip makers of SOFTBANK investment, we will also remain as indiscriminate. ”

In maintaining the independence of the acquisition after the premise be recognized by Softbank, the situation started to become good for ARM. "This acquisition will help ARM exploded from the focus on short-term performance, increase investment in research and development, engaged in long-term strategic planning. "Ian points out. According to its introduction, traveling light ARM plans to continue growing teams of engineers around the world. "United Kingdom engineers will grow 1 time times the size of your team, we will also increase China's Taiwan, mainland China and the United States and other areas of research strength. ARM research and development efforts in the future will be more close to the market. ”

CCID consulting ICS Division General Manager Han Xiaomin to the 21st century business Herald said the acquisition mean to ARM more than financial support, with SOFTBANK in communications, cloud computing, big data as well as emerging areas such as machine learning the layout of the ARM can also grow their own technology and product capability, extended more widely application market.

But on the other hand, ARM facing situation is rather serious. ARM currently occupies absolute dominance in the mobile Internet era, but manufacturers such as Qualcomm, also has a very strong power. "In addition, future-oriented applications such as Internet marketing, as well as artificial intelligence, ARM is more suitable for machine learning and Visual Computing in areas such as technology, also fail to carry the absolute leading position in the market, face established manufacturers such as Intel, and NVIDIA, as well as numerous start-up challenges. "Han Xiaomin said. Also ARM repeatedly stressed the independence of reason, and in order to "unite with all forces that can be United."

Justice Sun's goal is the Internet of things

Remove the ARM from the original development of, is also the acquisition of Internet of things was the most talked about. On various occasions, SOFTBANK President Masayoshi Son undisguised enthusiasm for the Internet of things, also does not conceal ARM's expectations. After the acquisition is completed, Masayoshi Son said publicly that 2015 ARM production total of Intel CPU (Intel) 40 times, enter the Internet of things (IoT), which obviously will increase again.

" SOFTBANK is leading in this acquisition, his enthusiasm for the Internet has a great deal of personal and original dream. "Ian told the 21st century business Herald reporter, Masayoshi Son, has outlined the next 15 to 20 years of the Internet landscape, there will be 1 trillion hardware devices connected, and he thought the ARM was mixing animals flag bearer for the network overall .

"Masayoshi Son, has put forward, SOFTBANK and ARM combination can get 1 million companies operating platform. "The Internet industry, technology Vice President Xie Chao pointed out to the 21st century business Herald reporter," SOFTBANK previously in the field of telecommunications, the Internet and other layout, will help ARM great influence in the field of semiconductor IP and promote industry further move up and down the value chain, construct grander things ecological platform. ”

ARM how to stimulate global Internet market? Ian summary has three points: first, recently ARM has released series for real networking of products, including based on new ARMv8-R structure of Cortex-R52 processor, this will makes ecological system within of commercial partners more easy to layout and for products production; second, ARM also will ARM mbed real networking equipment platform for expand, added has mbed Cloud, provides including security using, and security upgrade zainei of more items function, help customer company management real networking Terminal Third, ARM is also considering acquisitions opportunities in Internet of things technologies.

Meanwhile, the Ian emphasize ARM will not chip or platform, even began to make software, to more practical software partners. "We wouldn't be smart buildings, smart city of software experts, but we hope through our software allows partners to better develop their own Internet applications. ”

Han Xiaomin, ARM of these statements has its meaning. On one hand, the future of Internet marketing apart from the categories of core applications, there will be a lot of non-standard application of fragmentation, for this type of application development chip and platform products will invest a great deal of manpower and resources, is not a wise choice. The other hand, in terms of competition policy, which is "to unite with all forces that can be United."

However, it is worth noting is, 21st century business Herald reporter contacted Samsung and Qualcomm, these companies declined to comment on the takeover and ARM position. "We do not peer evaluation. "One of the companies said.

软银322亿美元收购ARM，孙正义终极目标曝光 - IT资讯

“在此之前，我从来没有听说过有任何收购相关的事宜。而在7月17日的那个周日，ARM的14位核心管理层全部收到邮件，要求周日晚7点必须赶到公司。”11月2日，现任ARM全球营销和战略联盟副总裁的Ian Ferguson在回忆软银收购ARM一幕时，仍感到有些恍惚，“我们的想法是，要么我们被开了，要么我们的CEO离开了，要么就是被收购了。”

尽管进入公司会议室后，从桌面摆有啤酒、红白酒等场设中，Ian隐隐觉得会是好消息，但当得知收购对象、收购价格及公司估值的那一刻，Ian还是感到震惊。随后，ARM公司CEO Simon Segars告诉高管们，公司管理层、企业文化、商业模式均不会有任何变化，所有高管都长舒一口气。

Ian Ferguson早在2007年就加入了ARM。这次收购，令ARM内部核心高管惊愕连连。

最后，软银以322亿美元、43%的溢价收购ARM。这场牵涉芯片设计领域全球霸主的交易，自始至终保密得滴水不漏，因此甫一公布，便如深水炸弹，引发全球芯片行业巨震。

“先是惊讶，然后想想觉得也对，收购之后还能保持ARM独立性及价值观，也只有软银这样的非芯片厂商能够做到。”ARM应用市场事业部总经理Noel Hurley告诉记者。他得到消息的时间是周一一大早，那时候他还在上班路上，“我对此感到高兴，有了软银的支持后，我们可以有更多长远战略上的考虑。”

事实上，独立性是在本次采访中，Ian对21世纪经济报道等媒体提到最多次数的词。面对外界对软银收购后ARM的独立性质疑，Ian一再强调，ARM的管理层、企业文化及商业模式不会有任何变化，这是本次收购达成的条件与前提。

ARM保持独立运营

在一定程度上，对于ARM高管而言，软银的收购令他们如释重负。

ARM是全球智能手机芯片架构市场的霸主，通过不断研发半导体知识产权（IP），再将IP有偿授权给苹果、高通和联发科等合作伙伴，由合作伙伴制造芯片。公开数据显示，目前基于ARM的应用处理器已在超过85%的智能移动设备（包括智能手机、平板电脑与笔记本电脑）中得到应用，50%的智能手机采用ARMv8架构，称之为“手机心脏”毫不为过。

在芯片行业内的独立性，构成ARM的一大优势。2010年，苹果公司曾有意收购ARM，却遭到拒绝。时任ARM公司CEO Warren East称，ARM公司“作为独立公司更具价值”。因此，对于本次ARM出售给软银一事，许多业内人士表示费解。

“ARM如今的董事会构成中，有包括孙正义在内的3人是软银成员，另外3人则是包括Simon Segars在内的ARM高管。”Ian对21世纪经济报道记者称。在阐述与软银之间关系时，他强调，之所以ARM能够保持独立性，在于软银本身的特点。“不像苹果公司，软银与我们的客户没有直接的竞争。进一步说，即便是软银投资的芯片厂商，我们也都将保持一视同仁。”

而在保持独立性的收购前提得到软银认可之后，局面就开始变得对ARM有益。“本次收购将帮助ARM从对短期业绩的关注中跳脱出来，加大研发投入，从事更为长期的战略规划。”Ian指出。据其介绍，轻装上阵的ARM计划继续壮大在全世界的工程师团队。“英国工程师团队将增长一倍的规模，另外我们也将增加中国台湾、中国大陆、美国等区域的科研力量。未来ARM的研发力量会更加贴近市场。”

赛迪顾问集成电路事业部总经理韩晓敏向21世纪经济报道记者表示，此次收购对于ARM的意义不止于资金支持，借助软银在通信、云计算大数据以及新兴机器学习等领域的布局，ARM还可以壮大自身的技术与产品能力，扩展更广泛的应用市场。

但另一方面，ARM面临的竞争形势也颇为严峻。目前ARM在移动互联时代占有绝对优势地位，但诸如高通等厂商也具有非常强劲的实力。“此外，针对未来的物联网市场以及人工智能等应用，ARM在更适应于机器学习以及视觉计算等领域的技术方面，还未能占据市场绝对领先地位，面临诸如intel、NVIDIA等老牌厂商以及众多初创企业的挑战。”韩晓敏说。这也构成ARM反复强调独立性的缘由所在，他们为了“团结一切可以团结的力量”。

孙正义的目标是物联网

除去ARM的原有发展之外，物联网也是本次收购后被谈论最多的方向。在不同场合，软银总裁孙正义毫不掩饰对物联网的热情，亦不掩饰对ARM的期许。收购完成后，孙正义公开表示，2015年ARM授权生产CPU总数达英特尔（Intel）的40倍，进入物联网（IoT）时代，这个数字显然还会再增加。

“孙正义在本次收购中是主导者，他对物联网有极大的个人热情与原始梦想。”Ian告诉21世纪经济报道记者，孙正义曾勾勒未来15年至20年间的物联网景观，届时将有1万亿硬件设备相互连接，而他认为ARM是搅动物联网大局的旗手。

“孙正义曾提出，软银与ARM的结合能一举获得让100万家企业运作的平台。”物联网行业从业者、特斯联科技副总裁谢超就此向21世纪经济报道记者指出，“软银此前在通讯、互联网等领域有所布局，未来将借助ARM在半导体IP领域的巨大影响力，推进产业价值链进一步上移、下行，构建更为宏大的物联网生态平台。”

ARM将如何拉动全球物联网市场呢？Ian总结了三点：第一，近日ARM已发布一系列针对物联网的产品，包括基于全新ARMv8-R结构的Cortex-R52处理器，这将使得生态系统内的商业伙伴更容易地布局和进行产品生产；第二，ARM还将ARM mbed物联网设备平台进行拓展，新增了mbed Cloud，提供包括安全使用、安全升级在内的多项功能，帮助客户公司管理物联网终端设备；第三，ARM也在考虑物联网新技术方面的收购机会。

与此同时，Ian强调ARM不会做芯片或平台，就算开始做软件，也是做对合作伙伴比较实用的软件。“我们不会成为智慧楼宇、智慧城市的软件专家，而是希望通过我们的软件让合作伙伴更好地研发自己的物联网应用。”

在韩晓敏看来，ARM的这些表态同样有其深意。一方面，未来的物联网市场除几大类核心应用之外，会有大量的碎片化的非标准的应用，针对这一类型的应用，发展芯片以及平台产品将投入巨大的人力物力，是不够明智的选择。另一方面，在竞争策略上，这同样是在“团结一切可团结的力量”。

然而，值得注意的是，21世纪经济报道记者联系到三星及高通，上述企业拒绝就该收购及ARM的表态发表评论。“我们不对同行做出评价。”其中一家企业相关人士表示。