ARM in licensing deal with Microsoft for chip technology

ARM Holdings (ARM), the world's leading semiconductor intellectual property (IP) supplier, today announced a licensing deal with Microsoft for its ubiquitous chip technology. The move comes after Intel's decision to partner the world's largest handset manufacturer, Nokia, to launch `Meego'.

Intel has, meanwhile, publicly declared that Meego was launched since the company was frustrated by the lack of support from Microsoft for the `Atom' platform.

Analysts, however, find it difficult to understand the reasons for Microsoft not adapting Windows 7 to suit Intel's requirements. 

They say it seems possible that Microsoft and Intel, the two parties that made up Wintel, had agreed to let each other flirt with other companies.

Microsoft, they point out, has in the past consistently lent support to other x86 manufacturers (VIA, AMD, Cyrix etc) and non-x86 (Alpha, MIPS) while Intel has supported Mac, Linux and many others.

But the companies have always avoided hurting each other, considering that consequences would be disastrous for both of them. But both companies have been forced to change their strategies radically under changed circumstances, they say.