British semiconductor design firm Arm Ltd. today is expanding its Flexible Access program to make its central processing units and other systems available to early access startups without paying anything upfront.

Arm is in the business of designing CPUs and other kinds of computer chips such as systems-on-a-chip infrastructure. The company doesn’t manufacture the chips itself, but rather licenses its designs as intellectual property to customers, who typically pay an annual fee to use them. Arm’s computer chips are popular with companies that are increasingly looking at building their own silicon that’s optimized for specific workloads.

The company rolled out its Flexible Access program in July, targeting startups and other smaller companies that can’t afford its standard licensing fees. The program gives customers access to a wide range of its computer chip designs, as well as various training resources and support services. There’s no obligation to pay for a full license either. Instead, customers will only pay for the designs they use in production, once they’ve been able to evaluate exactly what they need.

Previously, the only option companies had to access Arm’s IP was to choose the designs they want to use and pay the full licensing costs. That might do for bigger firms such as Apple Inc. that know exactly what they want, but it’s less convenient for smaller companies or startups that might need to experiment to determine which design is best.

Arm said the Flexible Access program has gained “significant momentum” since its launch last year with more than 40 companies signing up, including artificial intelligence chip maker Hailo Technologies Ltd., which raised $60 million in funding last month, and fabless semiconductor firm Atmosic Technologies Inc.

Now, Arm is expanding the program to what it calls early-stage startups, which it defines as privately held companies with less than $5 million in funding. For startups that meet the criteria, it means they can access Arm’s designs with no upfront costs, so they won’t be charged the $75,000 per year access fee for the standard Flexible Access program.

“This new element of the Flexible Access program has been in development for some time, since before the COVID-19 crisis,” a spokesperson for Arm told SiliconANGLE. “In the current climate, it’s more important than ever that we support innovation in any way we can, and this program has the potential to make a significant difference to early-stage startups.

Arm added that it’s hoping to cash in on a wave of new silicon startups that have emerged in recent years, targeting new technologies such as AI at the edge, autonomous cars and the “internet of things.”

“Startups joining the Flexible Access program have told us that they wish they could have had access to all of the IP and support in their early stages, even when they had little funding,” the spokesperson added. “They want to be able to start their designs as early as possible. We are already seeing interest from startups creating products ranging from relatively compute intensive edge gateways, to ultra-low-power IoT endpoints.”

Of course, what Arm really wants more than anything else of course is to see greater adoption of its computer chip designs, since that’s vital if the company is going to continue growing and expanding, said Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller.

“Lowering the barrier to entry for smaller clients is a proven strategy to ramp up platform adoption, and that is exactly what Arm is doing by expanding its program for startups,” Mueller said. “The program removes a substantial capital expenditure cost for small software vendors, and leads to earlier adoption of Arm’s platforms.”

A full list of the technology available through Arm’s Flexible Access program is available here.

Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns/Flickr