An interview with Sir Robin Saxby, chairman of ARM

EE Times: In the early days of ARM you were a frequent visitor to Brussels, lobbying to get ARM adopted as the European embedded processor of choice, but some of that activity seems to have tailed off?

Sir Robin Saxby: ARM is still involved in many European collaborative research projects. I was talking to Steve Furber recently [University of Manchester professor and part of the original Acorn RISC Machine design team] and he is modeling brain function on a network of 20 ARM968 processors.

One reason why the level of European activity may have changed is the change in the global business landscape. Now, connecting to China and India is the higher priority. In the 1990s the European Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative was very beneficial to ARM. It helped get us connected to Nokia. But 15 years later and India is a serious place for engineering and China has taken a leading place in the world.

EE Times: You are saying that ARM is a more mature company now having done its European work?

Sir Robin Saxby: I think that any technology company must now be global to have a chance. It makes it tough for the new startups.

China, India, the United Kingdom, they each have their strengths and weaknesses and you need to connect teams together. I am fortunate enough to visit these places, to give lectures and keynotes. I was in China only recently and it is an amazing place. Unfortunately I lot of people over here are not aware of what is happening in the east, but they need to be.

So, as you can see, I am very busy. I don't think I am slowing down. If anything I am speeding up.

EE Times: Thank you for your time.