Arm boosted by Apple’s latest iPhone line up
SHARES in semiconductor manufacturer Arm Holdings jumped four per cent yesterday, spurred by excitement surrounding Apple’s new smartphone lineup announced on Tuesday.
Arm’s processors will be used in the new iPhone 5s that uses high end chips to power a phone with more than double the speed of the previous generation iPhone.
Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets said that although Apple’s announcements disappointed investors, it was good news for Arm.
“Thanks to these new products using its latest 64-bit chips which should make the S version both much quicker and less battery hungry. There is also the chance that it can extract a higher royalty fee for the new chips.”
Arm has outpaced key rival Intel and the rest of the semiconductor market in recent years with growth driven by the use of its processors in smartphones and mobile devices such as the iPhone and tablet computers.
The company also licenses its processor designs and receives a royalty on every chip shipped in its customers’ products. Last year there were over 8bn Arm-based devices shipped worldwide, and the company made pre-tax profits of £276.5m.
Arm’s shares closed at 985.5p a share yesterday.