UK-based chip designer Arm is reportedly planning to launch its own chip this year after landing Meta as a customer, the Financial Times (FT) has reported.

Arm is a stalwart in the semiconductor design industry. Founded in Cambridge in 1990, the British firm’s central processing units (CPUs) feature in virtually all the world’s smartphones due to their superior battery life.

Arm licenses its intellectual property to other companies, such as Apple and Nvidia, which use its designs to create their own chips.

However, according to FT, the company – which since 2016 has been under the ownership of Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank Group – plans to launch its own chip this year after securing Meta as one of its first customers.

Rene Haas, Arm’s chief executive, will unveil the first chip that it has made in-house as early as this summer, according to a report in FT citing people familiar with the plans.

Chips based on Arm designs feature in all manner of electronic devices across...