VIDEO INTERVIEW: Outgoing chief executive Warren East has argued that ARM’s licensed chip designs have slashed the mobile industry’s R&D bill.

The UK company has sold around 960 licenses for its microprocessor designs to over 300 semiconductor companies. “If they had to design those microprocessors themselves, they would incur a similar cost that we incur,” said East in a video interview with Mobile World Live conducted shortly before announcing his decision to retire. “But by effectively sharing this development cost, the industry, collectively, is saving a huge amount of money.”

In a far-ranging interview, East also talks about the benefits of Windows on ARM, as well as assessing the business opportunity beyond mobile computing – the “Internet of Things”.

View an edited version of the interview here. The full 9-minute interview can be found here.