Microsoft is opening a number of positions related to SoC architecture, including the new position of Director of SoC Architecture, responsible for defining SoC features and functionality in Surface devices.
Google will use its own processors in Chromebooks and Pixel tablets, and Amazon is iterating back to the second generation of ARM chips it developed for its data centers, according to public filings. Many tech companies have announced plans for their own processors.
Take Google as an example. According to Wisebud data, up to the latest, Google and its affiliates have filed a total of 9,258 patent applications in 126 countries/regions (see Figure 1 for details), among which invention patents account for 98.42%. Experts of Wisebud say that the number of invention patents to some extent reflects the company's r&d strength. It is worth noting that although the number of patent applications in the chip field was not high in Google's early years from 2002 to 2011, the proportion of patent applications granted was very high. Google's patent filings in recent years have been very high, including 1,221 in 2016. In addition, according to the data of the target market countries for Smartwatch patents, Google's chip patents are mainly distributed in the following countries/regions: Mainland China, the United States, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, India, the United Kingdom and other countries/regions.