Acorn Computer Group developed the first RISC processor in 1985, which was followed by its release of the first budget-friendly PC processor. In 1990, ARM was released. It was the result of a collaborative effort between Acorn and Apple Computer to establish a new microprocessor standard.

ARM features include:

• Load/store-based architecture
• Single-cycle instruction execution
• Consistent 16x32 bit register file
• Link register
• Easy decoding and pipelining
• Power-indexed addressing modes
• Fixed 32-bit instruction set

Popular ARM-based processors include ARM7, ARM9, ARM11 and cortex. ARM Holdings Group licenses processor architecture on behalf of parent company ARM Holdings PLC. ARM provides compiler, debugger and software development kit tools, along with a complete hardware description of the ARM core, to interested parties.