Rene Haas, Arm CEO: AI demand won’t slow

“Let's go back to the timeframe with the internet building out. We didn’t have an issue that the internet 20 years later is not a valuable utility… If you don't have access to a smartphone, try to get into a sporting event or a concert - it’s not going to happen. That's the internet at its backbone. So artificial intelligence will be the same. It's going to be table stakes for everything that we do. We may see a short-term bump in the road or some pause or whatever you want to call it, and then people will freak out and say ‘AI's dead’, which is complete nonsense because it's only going to get better from here and it's going be a greater utility. So I don't worry about it too much.”

Faisal Islam speaks to Rene Haas, CEO of UK-based computer chip firm Arm Holdings, about the current boom in the industry being driven by the growth of AI and data centres.

Although some people may not be familiar with the Arm name, their silicon chips are present almost everywhere - from smartphones all the way up to supercomputers.

Founded in the early 1990s, the firm began its life operating out of an old turkey barn in the English countryside near Cambridge. As technology shrank and became increasingly mobile, Arm, whose main focus is the design of efficient chips, positioned themselves at the heart of the tech revolution.

It is now mostly owned by a large Japanese tech investment group and their chips can be found in almost every part of modern life - from smartphones and cameras through to cars and supercomputers.

With the AI revolution continuing apace, analysts have said that Arm will have a key role to play in the coming years.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with AI expert Parmy Olson, Hinge CEO Jackie Jantos, and McKinsey China’s Jo Ngai. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Faisal Islam

Producers: Ben Cooper, Priya Patel and Danielle Codd

Editor: Damon Rose

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(Image: Rene Haas. Credit: Getty)