Since ARM got listed at $45 back in October, its seen a pretty good run-up. It peaked at around 160 after its listing and has been able to hold up at least 90 since then. Neat but nothing spectacular. Nothing crazy but prob a good ROI if you were interested in buying the day of.
Since then we've seen Apple further commit to the ARM based M4 chips. Now its Microsoft seems fully committed to ARM based processors for whatever their new "AI on platform" product is going to be.
We're also seeing a whole new form-factor of device with the steam deck and its new competitors. ARM is not there yet in terms of being able to run all of the software that has been built around the x86 architecture, but we also just got the news of Microsoft releasing the PRISM x86 to ARM interoperability layer. Now is it good? Idk. Likely ymmv.
So lets summarize. The two biggest hardware+ecosystem players both seem fully committed to ARM. ARM runs cooler, and more power efficient than x86, but until very recently, no one was designing around it for 'performance system'; its domain was that of embedded hardware and phones. We have a whole new class of products gaining market penetration in the form of hand-held gaming PC's or steam deck type products. These products would benefit MASSIVELY in terms of performance with better performance/ power ratios. Likewise, with the advances in ML, manufacturers are looking to move inference onto device. And this is exactly what Microsoft and Apple appear to be doing. All of this depends on ARM.
Now the bad. ARM had a bad earnings last quarter and the price dumped from 160 to 90. Its recovered to 115 since then. However, it didn't have the press that it does now. The new Microsoft line wasn't out yet. We hadn't heard of or seen the release of the M4s. I think there is good news out there in the mix for ARM this quarter.
Ultimately, some company is going to have to get in there and compete for AI acceleration, and doing so in a more cost effective, more power efficient way seems like a no brainer.
If you are thinking about microprocessors, you first question should always be "Where is Jim Keller eating lunch"? The answer? Tenstorrent. They aren't publicly traded yet, but guess what architecture they are building around?
You guessed it. ARM/ Risk-V. You follow Jim Keller around not because Jim Keller knows the future, but because the future follows Jim Keller around.
TLDR: ARM is massively undervalued and represents the future of computing for smaller, cooler, more powerful computing and AI. Its what Jim Keller has decided to spend his time on. If you just throw your money at whereever Jim Keller is currently working, you'll make bank.
Positions: Shares that I bought at listing that have given me a very noice ROI (not selling options on them), and the August 15th $115 calls. I'm planning to hold the calls through the earnings run up, and I'll hopefully sell some of them to cover the cost of the position to hold at least a few through earnings. ARM is still very new, so earnings could be a mixed bag.