Arm Flexible Access broadens its scope to help more companies build silicon faster  

Innovation in silicon design thrives on iteration. For startups and established design teams alike, the ability to explore, test, and refine without financial friction is essential. That’s why Arm Flexible Access is evolving to make that journey even easier.

Arm Flexible Access already offers up-front, low-cost or no-cost access to a wide portfolio of Arm technology, tools, and training. This “try before you buy” model allows teams to build and test designs freely, only paying licensing fees for the technologies used in production silicon. It’s helped launch over 400 chips across more than 100 companies.

Now, Arm Flexible Access is taking a significant leap forward with the following new updates to the program:

• Expanded startup eligibility, with raised revenue and funding thresholds;
• Continued focus on edge AI innovation, with new technology and platforms included; and
• A streamlined joining process, with one price point and unlimited tape-outs.

These updates are designed to remove complexity, accelerate project cycles, and give both startups and established design teams more room to innovate while minimizing risk.

Startup-friendly, scale-ready, differentiated silicon builds

As part of the 2026 update, the Arm Flexible Access for Startups program expands in scope, supporting a broader range of qualifying startup companies. These include:

• Increasing the funding threshold to $50 million (up from $20 million); and
• Raising the annual revenue threshold to $5 million (up from $1 million).

This expanded runway allows more startups to enter the program with a 100% discount on the access fees and confidence to scale at their own pace and focus on building differentiated silicon.

Edge AI and beyond: New technology, new possibilities

The Arm product portfolio within Arm Flexible Access continues to grow, supporting a wider range of AI and digital signal processing (DSP) workloads at the edge. New additions include:

• The availability of Arm Ethos-U85 NPU, which offers 4x the performance of previous generations and supports transformer-based models for a wide range of real-time, always-on edge AI use cases. Ethos-U85 is integrated into Alif Semiconductor’s edge AI processors, which are used in Alif development kits, as well as Ambiq’s “Best of CES 2026” Atomiq SoC for on-device AI.
• A high-performance real-time edge AI solution enabled by the Arm Corstone-320 reference design platform, integrating Arm Cortex-M85 CPU, Ethos-U85 NPU, Arm Mali-C55 ISP, and optimized software. This enables SoC designers to rapidly build AI-capable edge systems, including wearables, low-power vision devices, voice UI, and industrial IoT systems.
• Arm Cortex-M52 processor, the most area and energy-efficient implementation of the Armv8.1-M architecture to date, featuring Arm Helium technology for significantly enhanced DSP and machine learning (ML) performance.

These new additions follow the recent inclusion of the Armv9 Edge AI platform to Arm Flexible Access in October 2025. The platform – which is optimized for advanced edge AI and IoT workloads like voice assistant, industrial automation and predictive maintenance – combines the ultra-efficient Arm Cortex-A320 CPU with the powerful Ethos-U85 NPU, enabling AI models with over a billion parameters to run directly on-device.

With Arm Flexible Access, partners can begin designing with these products and solutions immediately, test workloads across multiple configurations, and optimize system performance before locking in final silicon choices.

Streamlined joining process, one price point, unlimited tape-outs

Joining Arm Flexible Access is now simpler and more streamlined. A single annual fee of $85,000 unlocks access for all partners, removing barriers to entry and supporting teams from exploration through production. With unlimited tape-outs included, the model scales alongside a company’s ambitions.

Arm Flexible Access members can:

• Download a broad portfolio of Arm IP and supporting tools instantly;
• Use Arm IP Explorer to compare options and access training at their own pace;
• Simulate, iterate, or adjust IP configurations during development; and
• Defer license fees until ready to tape-out.

Many members also collaborate with Arm Approved Design Partners, a global network of experts in design, verification, and ASIC services. This ecosystem enables companies to accelerate development cycles and move more quickly toward commercial deployment.

How diverse innovators prototype on Arm

Arm Flexible Access has already enabled more than 400 chip designs, helping partners move rapidly from prototype to silicon. Many have transitioned to broader engagements as their product roadmaps matured.

Recent participants include AI infrastructure innovators like SpiNNcloud Systems, a startup building energy‑efficient, brain‑inspired AI compute capable of real‑time large‑scale AI inference. By leveraging Arm Flexible Access, SpiNNcloud managed early-stage development costs while accelerating its path to market. Meanwhile, Minima is using the program to advance its blockchain‑enabled custom SoC design, optimizing for performance, security, and flexibility across a range of distributed hardware environments.

M5ERS, an emerging player in ultra-low-power compute, joined Arm Flexible Access for Startups to fast-track development of its next-generation application processor units (APUs). The startup is using Arm technology to build AI-capable, energy-efficient silicon that powers edge devices in consumer, wearable, and industrial sectors.

Finally, in the quantum computing space, Equal1 is working at the frontier of cryogenic quantum-classical integration. Through Arm Flexible Access for Startups, Equal1 implemented Arm technology in its hybrid quantum processor development, where low-power, high-efficiency silicon plays a critical role in enabling real-time control and interfacing of qubits.

Get started with Arm Flexible Access

Silicon design is moving faster, and the need for efficient, low-risk experimentation has never been higher. By simplifying access, expanding technology and platform options, and empowering the ecosystem, Arm Flexible Access is helping the next generation of silicon innovators go from idea to silicon, smarter, faster, and at scale.

Arm Flexible Access lets partners explore, design, and build their own custom SoC with freedom and clarity, start projects when they’re ready, iterate without friction and commit financially only when they’re certain about the final design.

Visit the Arm Flexible Access page to explore the new updates, see what’s included, and start building today.