Tony Fadell, who as the initial iPhone project leader arguably made one of the most important chip decisions in the technology business, joined the board of directors of Arm on Thursday to help the processor designer expand from smartphones to even more corners of our digital lives.
Fadell's push to use the Arm family of chips in the iPod and iPhone cemented Arm's position on the ground floor of the smartphone business. Arm processors are now penetrating the personal computer market thanks to Apple's M1 and M2 processors and data centers with chip designs like Amazon's Graviton.
In an exclusive interview, Fadell said he expects his experience designing complete products will help UK-based Arm steer its processor designs.
"I can bring a more system level mentality... I think about the end customer," said Fadell, now a principal at investment and consulting firm Build Collective, which until Thursday was named Future Shape. He understands how a chip combines with memory, power supplies, sensors and other components to make a full product, he said.
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