According to Nikkei Asia’s May 13 report, Arm is establishing a special unit to develop artificial intelligence chips. While the first artificial intelligence chip protocol is aimed to be released in the spring of 2025, mass production is expected to start in the autumn of the same year.

The development cost is thought to be hundreds of billions of yen. While most of this cost is covered by SoftBank, the company’s 90% stake in Arm is also taken into account. There is also the possibility that the AI ​​chip business will become a separate company within SoftBank once mass production begins.

Arm currently provides the design of the technology used in the core chips of “nearly all smartphones and tablets.” It has a share of over 90% in the smartphone processor architecture market. However, it also provides architecture to Nvidia, one of the leading chip manufacturers in the field of artificial intelligence. This shows Arm’s desire to reduce its dependence on Nvidia by developing its own AI chips.

This move by SoftBank is also linked to the company making a net profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 after shifting its focus to artificial intelligence. Arm is an important part of SoftBank’s outlook for the coming year.

At a press conference in Tokyo, SoftBank chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto emphasized that interest and development in the artificial intelligence sector is a critical factor for the group’s future:

“Arm is at the center of SoftBank Group’s AI transformation, which is at the core of the Vision Fund and will create a new ecosystem with a variety of AI-using assets we have long owned.”

This initiative by Arm coincides with the increasing demand for chips that will support developments in the field of artificial intelligence. In February, Arm’s shares rose 30% due to its predictions in artificial intelligence. Arm is just one of many technology developers aiming to develop AI chips in-house and reduce its dependence on Nvidia. Just ten months ago, Samsung announced it had received a $6.4 billion grant to expand its Texas facility for semiconductor chip production, with an estimated $45 billion investment by the end of the decade.

At the same time, OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, one of the world’s most powerful AI chatbots, is reportedly seeking trillions of dollars in investments from investors around the world to begin manufacturing its own chips.

This fight between SoftBank’s Arm and Nvidia could spark new competition not only in the field of artificial intelligence, but in the entire chip manufacturing industry. This competition is expected to be beneficial for both consumers and the future of artificial intelligence technology. Thus, while consumers can gain access to more advanced and affordable artificial intelligence-supported products, artificial intelligence technology can also develop more quickly.

However, the potential risks of this competition should also be taken into consideration. Chip manufacturing is a complex and costly process. Therefore, there is a possibility that a new chip war will lead to a supply shortage and an increase in chip prices. In the coming period, it is necessary to closely follow the developments in the field of artificial intelligence chips and evaluate both the opportunities and risks of this struggle.