As India Looks Towards Arm Chips, Let’s Find Out If They're Really As Cutting Edge As Has Been Claimed

Arm has always been considered more power efficient while the traditional x86 is considered to have the higher performance of the two. 

C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), which operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has recently partnered with MosChip Technologies and Socionext Inc to design and develop an HPC (High-Performance-Computing) processor SoC (System-on-a-Chip), which is based on the Arm architecture. 

The goal is to develop a high-performance Arm Neoverse V2 CPU platform and incorporate advanced packaging technology. 

In the words of Magesh Ethirajan, Director General, C-DAC, this collaboration is designed to meet the evolving demands of high-performance-computing and related applications and aims to design, develop and produce indigenous HPC processor, that not only meets global standards but also propels India to the forefront in the supercomputing arena.

Taking all of this into account, there are some important questions we must ask. What is the Arm architecture? Why has it become so popular in recent years? And is it better than what we use today? Let’s find out.

The Origin Of Arm

Advanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Machine, or Arm, was developed to design a computer intended to run on a battery. Arm was created around the idea of power-efficient CPUs. In its own words, Arm compute platforms are the most power-efficient on the planet and continue to push the thresholds of performance. 

Since its conception, it has favoured power efficiency and so it dominated mobile systems. In Arm’s own words, about 99 per cent of premium smartphones that exist today are powered by Arm. 

Arm Vs x86: Who’s Better?

Most people working in the IT industry are familiar with x86 processors. The x86 architecture was initially developed by Intel. They are utilised in most computer and server hardware. 

Traditionally they have been known to be more powerful than processors based on the Arm architecture. 

Arm has always been considered more power efficient while x86 is considered to have the higher performance of the two. 

However, the sole reason for this article is to discuss what changed this previously prevalent dynamic. 

Blurring Of Lines

Computers that function on the Arm architecture aren’t exactly a new thing. Older iterations of devices like the Microsoft Surface utilised this architecture but just as we discussed before, they were not able to beat the performance level of the devices based on the x86 architecture. 

However, the launch of the M1, the first chip designed by Apple specifically for the Mac, in 2020 changed everything. The M1, based on the Arm architecture, beat most of the x86-based competition that existed at the time in terms of both performance and battery life, setting a new benchmark for computer-grade processors. 

The M1 was the resurgence that Arm needed and it showed the world that it wasn’t just viable but also capable of being more powerful than what existed in the market at the moment. 

Windows On Arm

Apple had succeeded in revolutionising the tech industry once again, and its competitors weren’t just going to lay back and relax. Companies like Intel and AMD who relied on the x86 architecture were still strong within the PC market for their excellent price-to-performance proposition, but Apple’s processors continued to dominate the laptop market.

Consumers who had become aware of the superior performance of Apple’s M series of processors wanted a similar alternative for Windows users. 

It turns out that the solution for the same lay with Apple’s former Senior Director in Platform Architecture, Gerard Williams III. 

Gerard departed from Apple in 2019 to start his own chip company, Nuvia. Around 2 years later the company was acquired by Qualcomm for 1.4 billion U.S Dollars and they were tasked with designing a mobile chip.

Now, a few years later we are seeing the fruition of all these efforts in the form of the Snapdragon X series.

What Is Snapdragon X Series?

In Qualcomm’s own words, its Snapdragon X Elite platform is built for AI and is the most powerful, intelligent, and efficient processor ever created for Windows in its class. Its other processor in the X series, the Snapdragon X Plus also has similar features but a lower core count of ten instead of the Elite’s twelve. 

The Snapdragon X Series is capable of powering Copilot+ PCs, which Microsoft claims are the most intelligent Windows PCs ever built. They have a multitude of new AI features including Recall, Cocreator and of course Copilot, its AI companion. 

These new AI experiences are powered by what Qualcomm calls its ‘AI Engine’. The company also attribute this to its powerful CPU, GPU and NPU (Neural Processing Unit).

So, How Does All This Matter To You?

Since the AI boom a few years ago, people have been either scared, curious or in downright awe of the possibilities that AI brings with it. Through newer and more powerful Arm-based processors like Snapdragon’s X series, the general consumer has the opportunity to implement AI into their daily workflow in a simple and efficient manner.

Hardware and technical know-how used to act as a barrier for many people interested in the world of AI but with stronger processors and more accessible interfaces like Copilot+, anybody can utilise the power of AI. 

Ensuring that access to any new technology is easy and streamlined is always a step in the right direction. While AI might still seem unconventional to some, this author is sure that in just a few years, it will be integrated into our daily lives to a point where people won’t remember a time before it existed.

(The author is a student of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, Delhi)