ARM Holdings plc (ARMH) Poised To Challenge Intel Corporation (INTC)

It used to be that Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s main competitor going forward seemed to be Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). Now it’s ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) that’s poised to challenge the veteran chip giant.

In an interview with Bloomberg, ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) CEO Simon Segars appeared to be ready to take on Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) particularly in the field of data centers and the looming “Internet of Things” industry.

According to the ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) boss, his company is seeing quite the interest in their technology for data centers that are becoming more and more specialized. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is still dominant in the data center field.

It’s worth noting that ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH)’s business model is about licensing their architecture to companies that fabricate the chips themselves. These companies, Segars said, are increasingly building specialized chips to meet demand for specific computing requirements in evolving data centers.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC)’s business model includes designing the architecture of their chips as well as making those chips.

According to Segars, their company and their partners are making more servers using ARM technology. For example, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has recently debuted a server using ARM technology, he said.

Furthermore, as the “Internet of Things” becomes more common with everyday objects being given computing power and the ability to connect to a network, Segars expects more demand for his company’s processor technology. ARM currently dominates the mobile field with most processors of smartphones and tablets using chips licensing the company’s processor architecture.

Segars added that even though there is competition and a lot experimentation in the field of connected things, he thinks it’s a good thing as it will nurture the industry. He did concede, however, that he thinks consolidation will happen in the future.

Noam Gottesman’s GLG Partners owned 306,180 ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH) shares by the end of the third quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, also by the end of that period, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management was the largest institutional investor in Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) with about 40.33 million shares.