ARM to skip modems for now, even though they're big in mobile

ARM has added a wealth of wireless technologies to its arsenal, but has no immediate plans to design a modem for mobile or Internet of Things devices.

The company offers CPU and GPU designs that are widely used in smartphones and tablets. A missing piece is a cellular modem that ARM customers could license and put in mobile devices.

ARM once considered developing a modem, but the design is complex and there are different protocols, technologies and customer requirements, said Ian Smythe, director of marketing in the CPU group at ARM.

For example, a device maker might want a modem that supports CDMA in the U.S., while phones in China use a different form of LTE than in the U.S. and Europe.

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