Drew Henry, Arm's Executive Vice President of Strategy and Ecosystem, visited Taiwan today (November 5th) to share how Arm is responding to the computing revolution brought about by AI, and to emphasize the key role of Taiwan's supply chain in the global development of AI.
AI is redefining computation.
Drew Henry points out that AI is completely redefining computing. Current trends include the scaling of AI models, the increasing demand for AI applications, the rise of agentic/on-device AI, and the resulting design complexity, power constraints, and rapid innovation.
Currently, the impact of AI has penetrated into various fields, including data centers, automobiles, mobile devices, PCs, and the Internet of Things. Drew Henry further pointed out that economic data shows that the global GDP output is about 100 trillion US dollars and maintains an annual growth rate of 3%. AI is expected to double the overall growth, and the analysis even suggests that the future GDP growth rate may double to 6%, 7%, or even higher.
Arm's AI strategy: computing platform + ecosystem
To address current AI demands, Arm's core strategy is "computing platform + ecosystem." This approach integrates architecture, software, and computing. Arm currently offers AI-optimized computing platforms for different markets, such as Arm Neoverse for data centers, Arm Zena for automobiles, Arm Lumex for mobile devices, and Arm Niva for PCs. It also includes Arm Orbis for IoT devices.
Drew Henry emphasized that Arm is a computing platform system provider, not a chip manufacturer, focusing on collaborative design with customers and working closely with foundries like TSMC on advanced manufacturing processes. Therefore, regarding market rumors that Arm will launch its own branded chip products, Drew Henry stressed that Arm prefers to collaborate with customers to create optimized chip designs that meet computing needs.
Taiwan: Located at the center of AI development
Drew Henry stated, "Taiwan is the center of AI," and further explained that since he first came to Taiwan, he has witnessed the development of different new technological applications every time he visits, from the earliest PCs to mobile phones, and now the growth of AI applications. He has witnessed the development of new technologies almost every time.
Taiwan is an important supply chain partner for Arm and its ecosystem, playing a key role in AI development, covering core technologies from SoC design, wafers, packaging to motherboards/racks. This has prompted Arm to continue investing in the Taiwan market.
Accelerated cycles of software and ecosystems
Arm is currently dedicated to helping build a software development ecosystem, and more than 2200 million AI-enabled software developers worldwide are building software services through the Arm architecture platform. Arm provides a universal platform that allows developers to "write once, deploy everywhere," and emphasizes that it has the broadest software support in history.
Drew Henry explained that this positive investment cycle, driven by hardware and AI-powered developer and software demand, is accelerating. And with AI at its core, ecosystem integration has become more crucial than ever.
Currently, Arm is promoting the development of AI technology across industries through the Arm Total Design Ecosystem, SOAFEE, a lab in collaboration with mobile device OEMs, and partnerships with game studios and AI frameworks. On October 28th of this year, Arm also announced a collaboration with GitHub to accelerate the development of AI-driven cloud services.
Views on current key AI issues
In this interview, Drew Henry also shared his views on current hot topics in the AI industry:
• On the AI bubble:Drew Henry doesn't believe AI will become a bubble. On the contrary, he observes that more and more computing will be combined with AI, which will create greater market demand for AI and accelerate lifestyle changes.
• Regarding AI competitions and export restrictions:Drew Henry believes that global demand for AI will continue to increase and drive global GDP growth to double, while Arm's position is to follow the regulations of various governments.
• Regarding cloud and edge AI computing:Drew Henry believes both will continue to be used, with the cloud handling massive training and inference processes, while the device focuses on rapid response. He argues that the current trend is gradually shifting towards edge computing, but the cloud remains crucial, which is also the current direction of Arm architecture development.
• Regarding the electricity requirements of AI:In response to recent concerns from AWS and Microsoft regarding power support resources, Drew Henry stated that AI does indeed require more power infrastructure. Therefore, he emphasized that the Arm architecture can achieve greater power efficiency, which is why NVIDIA, AWS, and Google have all begun to adopt the Arm architecture as their basic computing architecture.
• Regarding "Moore's Law is dead":Drew Henry believes Moore's Law is an economic term used to describe the pace of technological industry development. While some have declared it dead because manufacturing processes cannot keep up with computing demands, Drew Henry believes semiconductor technology will continue to grow, and AI will even accelerate that growth.
• Regarding Arm's self-made chips:Drew Henry stated that Arm currently has no plans to launch its own branded chips, and emphasized that Arm remains focused on collaborating with customers on design (such as AWS and Tesla, which have begun building their own custom chips) to drive greater computing power.
• About Windows on Arm:Arm continues to collaborate with industry partners (including Qualcomm) to drive progress.
