1985 — Acorn develops the BBC Micro computer, used in almost every school in the UK in the 1980s.
1985 — Olivetti takes 25 per cent stake in Acorn, which had come close to bankruptcy, following a downturn in the UK home computer market the previous year.
1990 — Arm is founded as a spin-off from Acorn to focus on chipmaking after it had started collaborating with Apple on the Arm processor as part of the development of Apple’s Newton computer system. Apple puts in £1.5m in cash, Acorn contributes 12 engineers.
1992 — Sharp and GEC Plessy both sign up to use Arm’s technology.
1998 — Floats as Arm Holdings on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.
1999 — Arm becomes a member of the FTSE 100.
2001 — Arm has 76 per cent share of the 32-bit embedded RISC (reduced instruction set computing) chip market.
2001 — Warren East appointed chief executive, succeeding Sir Robin Saxby.
2007 — Arm processors found in 98 per cent of mobile phones.
2008 — The 10-billionth processor chip containing Arm designs is shipped.
2009 — Arm invests in Japanese software vendor ESOL to develop enhanced platforms for next-generation automotive electronics
2011 — Microsoft announces plans for a Windows operating system that works on chips designed by Arm. Until now, Microsoft’s PC software has been based on chips designed by Intel of the US.
2013 — Arm targets the gaming console market, buying Geomerics, a graphics technology company.
2014 — Arm releases free software to allow products from smart fridges and high-tech watches to communicate with each other, in its latest push into the “internet of things”.
2016 — Arm pays $350m for imaging specialist Apical
2016 — Arm to be acquired by SoftBank of Japan for £24.3bn
[Source:- Financial Times]
