1.

If you know what the image here is, you will understand the topic of this video much better.
The image here is of a microprocessor from intel found in most of our devices such as
Computers and laptops.
2. Hello everyone, I am Saumen Maji and today I am going to discuss over the War of
processors.
3. A processor is basically brain of the computer. It takes input from the user, processes them,
feeds them into the system and does required work as output.
4. Whenever the Word war and processor are put on the same line you might think of the war
between AMD and Intel and why not its been making headlines for a decade now.
5. The market share of Intel has sunk from almost a monopoly to 85.2% where AMD took 14.8
% market share by the end of 2019.
6. But what’s more important here is the war between ARM and X86.
7. X86 processor started with the introduction on 8086 processor by Intel The upcoming line-
up has been named X86 processor based on the 8086 processor architecture.
8. X86 Processors are most frequently used in Laptops, Computers Server PCs and Gaming
Consoles ARM processors on the other hand are used in Smartwatches, Tablets,
Smartphones and Smart TVs.
9. X86 processors are more powerful, Faster, and more Compatible but at the same time are
bulky and produces huge amount of heat. ARM on the other hand are Energy efficient,
smaller, Cheaper, and easier to manufacture and produces less heat.
10. This clearly shows why ARM processors are used in Smaller devices where Battery
consumption is an important issue and X86 processor in devices where more performance is
required.
11. Now we can have a look at which company controls what in the market. The Instruction Set
Architecture (ISA) or the way a processor handles data and performs task is categorized in 2
types CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computing) and RISC (Reduces Instruction Set
Computing). The modern day X86 processor is based on the CISC. Only 2 Companies in the
world that have the licence to produce x86 processor are Intel and AMD. They both
produces chip that are used to run Windows and Linux Operating System in the consumer
level and are also used by servers and Gaming consoles. Whereas MacBook running MacOS
by Apple uses only intel chips in their products. On the other hand, IBM and ARM are 2
companies that operate on RISC. IBM only produces chips for enterprise uses, whereas ARM
designs and licences their chips to companies such as Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung,
Huawei, which makes processors to be used in their smartphones running on Android
operating systems. Apple also buys designs from ARM to manufacture their A series Bionic
chips which are used in their products running on iOS such as iPhone and iPad.
12. Cutthroat competition is nothing new in the consumer Market. We all know of the OS Rivalry
between iOS and Android, MacOS and Windows, and even in the ARM Processor market
between Qualcomm and MediaTek.
13. You might ask why knowing the market is suddenly so important. Well it is important
because competition gives rise to innovation. For a lot of years Intel had a monopoly over
the Processor market which resulted in very delayed improvements and lack of innovation. It
changed after the entry of AMD.
14. Moreover, on 22 June 2020 at the WDC Apple finally announced that they are ditching Intel
and will used their own ARM based processors by the end of 2020 thus proving the much-
circulated rumour a truth. The partnership between them that lasted for 15 years finally
came to an end.
15. But you might ask does that mean X86 will run out of power? Not exactly but it will change
the market severely. Within few years we can see ARM based processors making way into
our Laptops and Computers and X86 being limited to only Gaming Consoles, Server Systems
and Enterprise PCs.
16. All this could be very well explained because of the inefficiency of x86 based processor. The
monopoly of Intel over licence caused the lack of innovation in x86 processor. The closed
structure of the Processor certainly does not help as no modification can be made either by
Companies or by customers for commercial purposes. So, for a long times Companies are
stuck with whatever Intel has to offer.
17. The story would’ve ended here if not for the RISC-V which threatens to destroy not just X86
but also ARM. Its an open standard Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) based on RISC which
unlike other ISA is provided under open source licence.
18. As we can see here in the Graph, ARM´s performance has reached the Plateau here. And If
we look at the graph of RISC-V its just the beginning of Rise
19. The pros of RISC-V are huge. As It is an Open Standard processor it can easily be modified
according to requirement by companies and customers. Because of its extreme
customizability finally the processors can be made to suit the devices and not the other way
around. Because it is licence free anybody can join in and contribute to it much like
Operating System Linux and that’s why it is called the Linux of Hardware. It also has the
potential to become the Standard ISA much like USB for ports.
20. How Linux Potentiated the growth of internet. It wouldn’t have been possible for us to use
the internet if not for Linux that is an open source Software. Think of the potential that RISC-
V has to offer with the open standard ISA. It would disrupt the complete market for the
good.
21. The rise of RISC-V might finally turn the dream of Remote CPU virtualization into truth where
most for the heavy work would be done in a server and you wouldn’t need heavy
processors to run cumbersome task on the computer. We can also see Subscription based
Hardware where the hardware can be upgraded at any time accordingly to meet the needs.
And Because Updates would be much faster and can be initiated by either Operating System
or Hardware provider much like drivers it would be much more secure.
22. And don’t take my word for, Hundreds of Companies such as Google, Nvidia, FB, Alibaba,
Qualcomm, Samsung, Huawei have partnered with them to gain use of its Potential.
23. The question at the end is always but what do we get as customers? Thanks to the war and
the rise of RISC-V in the future we can see cheaper and better laptops in the future. As RISC-
V and ARM both uses less power we can see computers with less energy requirement and
consecutively less heat output We may also see smaller, lighter, and thinner laptops as we
wont need bulky heating solutions anymore to cool down the CPU. Whatever the future of
CPU has for us, the consumers would be on the winning side.