In April, ARM64 (Cortex A-57) taped out. This means they have all design issues resolved, the chip is working, and it's being manufactured using TSMC's 16nm FinFET process.
http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/53661-arms-64-bit-cortex-a57-taped-out/40% more performance, same power consumption:
http://www.eetimes.com/design/microcontroller-mcu/4411049/ARM-TSMC-tape-out-64-bit-core-for-FinFET-process Being taped out means they can now begin debugging in real-world apps on 64-bit ARM-based hardware devices. These will allow compilers, tools, real-world apps, to be tested, and to tweak the performance for subsequent stepping releases which will give us better products.
It's a huge milestone. ARM64 will provide 64-bit processing on the low-power ARM devices we use in our mobiles, tablets, etc. But, these will also be usable for higher-end data servers which require access to large amounts of data, but do not have large compute burdens as servers. It will make server farms able to be much larger with lower power requirements.
An exciting day for the world of ARM.
On a related note, a warning has been issued to Intel that the next CEO needs to focus on mobile, or "lose the farm":
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2037133/intel-s-next-gen-ceo-must-get-inside-next-gen-devices.htmlBTW, less than a decade ago, Intel had a powerful ARM-based offering, called XScale. They sold that entire division off, not seeing the future power of ARM (as is now used in virtually every new mobile device, often with multiple ARM-based CPUs per device). Intel is currently trying to play catch-up with ARM in terms of performance delivered for power consumed using their Atom x86-based CPU.
2013 is to be the year when ARM's power requirements and performance reach those of Atom. This parity will be a big deciding factor for the industry: Continue with ARM, or switch to x86?
