Intel Corp (INTC)

[mas]

I don't care if Intel uses ARM

Then it loses its proprietary advantage of being able to differentiate on ISA which I don't really need to remind you modern day servers/pcs are standardized on x86 after brutal decades of open competition. Once you start giving up on x86 in mobility what will be its long term future when you see how mobile volume has transformed ARM and Apple ? x86 will then become the niche Server Risc of the future. This is where your short-term strategy will lead Intel.

I know you like to rag on Atom but it is still only a dual-issue cpu competing against triple-issue A57/A72 and hex-issue A9, there really is so much future potential scope to develop both Atom and Core with the latter still only a quad-issue cpu and as Intel can change its ISA at the same time it can maximize the performance increase rather than waiting in line like everyone else for the next release of ARMv8.

You have noticed that Intel's 10nm is late and 14nm yields are still poor so add to that Intel becoming an ARM shop as well, its chips may well end up inferior if it ever loses its process advantage building generic licensed cpus whereas it is shielded to a big extent by the x86 walled garden. It's a slippery slope you are advocating once you work out all eventual possibilities to their conclusion. x86 everywhere really is the best strategy to keep the FABs full and humming.

I really could see Core-M in a phone eventually if Intel choose to put it there maybe at 10nm-7nm. The way Core has developed lately is that it has lost power more than it has gained performance which is fine for the moment and good for its eventual use in phones but I really could see the eventual need of a third line of x86 cpus, say a 6-issue desktop/server cpu specialist of say Itanium ipc levels as the performance distinction lines between x86 and ARM are definitely getting blurred with each new ARM generation.