WhereIsAtlas · Tech

Acorn Computers

The Cambridge firm that won the BBC's schools contract, built a processor nobody asked for, and died — while that processor ended up in most of the world's phones

Defunct — Acorn is the clearest case in this registry of a company whose fate and whose product's fate have nothing to do with each other. Acorn Computers Ltd itself was wound down at the end of the 1990s — it is defunct in the ordinary sense. But the processor its engineers designed in 1983–85 was spun out in 1990 as a separate company, Advanced RISC Machines, and that company is one of the most valuable in the world. The remaining parts of Acorn were renamed Element 14 and sold on. So: the company died, and what it made is in your pocket.

Acorn Computers was founded in Cambridge in 1978 by Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry. In 1981 it won the contract to build the machine for the BBC's Computer Literacy Project, and the BBC Micro became the computer British schools bought — a position it held for most of the 1980s, and the reason a generation learned to program on one.

The decision that matters came in 1983. To build a successor, Acorn needed a processor, and the engineers Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber concluded that nothing on the market was good enough and a small team could design its own. The first ARM chip worked in 1985, and its defining quality was economy: it used far fewer transistors than the processors it competed with, and drew so little power that it was suited to battery operation. That was an engineering choice in a Cambridge office and it became the reason the architecture is in phones.

Acorn the company never converted any of this into a durable business. It was restructured, rescued, and wound down by the end of the 1990s. In 1990 the chip work was spun out — with Apple and VLSI Technology as partners, Apple needing a low-power processor for the Newton — into Advanced RISC Machines, later Arm. That company licensed designs and built almost nothing, a model that was treated as a curiosity at the time and is now the standard for processor intellectual property.

The rest is a chain of ownership. Arm went to SoftBank in 2016 and back to the public market in 2023. The leftover Acorn business became Element 14 and was sold to Broadcom. And in Cambridge, the Raspberry Pi — explicitly a spiritual successor to the BBC Micro — listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2024.

In 2026 Arm shipped its first self-designed chip, with Meta named as the first customer — the company ending thirty-five years of building nothing.

Timeline

1978 — Acorn is founded: Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry set up in Cambridge; Curry had come from Clive Sinclair's Sinclair Radionics. (Cambridge)
1981 — The BBC goes shopping: The BBC seeks a machine for its Computer Literacy Project; Acorn wins the contract and the BBC Micro becomes the computer British schools buy. (London)
1981 — The BBC Micro ships: Priced from £235, it is far from cheap — but it is the machine with the software, the documentation and the school behind it. (Cambridge)
1983 — The decision to build a processor: Needing a successor machine, Acorn's engineers conclude nothing on the market is good enough and design their own. (Cambridge)
1985 — The first ARM chip works: The design is striking for how little silicon it needs, and for how little power — a property that later determines where it can be used. (Cambridge)
1990 — The spin-out: Apple, needing a low-power processor for the Newton, backs a joint venture with VLSI Technology that takes the chip work out of Acorn as Advanced RISC Machines. (Cambridge)
1990s — Acorn is wound down: The company is restructured and rescued, and never becomes a durable business. It is wound down at the end of the decade. (Cambridge)
2000 — The leftovers are sold: The remaining Acorn business, renamed Element 14, is sold to Broadcom — the engineers fetching more than the computer business ever did. (Cambridge)
2016 — SoftBank buys Arm: SoftBank acquires Arm for around $31.4bn, taking the architecture private. (Tokyo)
Sep 2023 — Arm returns to the market: Arm lists on Nasdaq, valued at about $54.5bn — the largest listing of that year. (New York)
2024 — The spiritual successor lists: Raspberry Pi, built in Cambridge as a deliberate heir to the BBC Micro, floats on the London Stock Exchange. (London)
2026 — Arm builds a chip of its own: After thirty-five years of licensing only, Arm ships its first self-designed processor, with Meta named as the first customer. (Cambridge)

Quick facts

Founded: 1978, Cambridge, by Hermann Hauser and Chris Curry
The schools contract: won in 1981 for the BBC Computer Literacy Project; the BBC Micro shipped in 1981
Price: the BBC Micro started at £235, against £125 for the 16K ZX Spectrum the following year
Chip designers: Sophie Wilson (instruction set) and Steve Furber (architecture)
The first ARM chip: working in 1985; deliberately economical in transistors and power
Spin-out: Advanced RISC Machines, 1990, with Apple and VLSI Technology
Later owners of the chip business: SoftBank (2016), then the public market again (2023)
Remaining business: renamed Element 14, sold to Broadcom
Where it is now: gone as a company; ARM is in most of the world's smartphones

Lineage — where the name went

Two branches, and only one of them is an ownership line. The upper branch is Acorn the company: founded in Cambridge, wound down at the end of the 1990s, its remains renamed Element 14 and sold to Broadcom. The lower branch is the chip, and it leaves the company entirely in 1990 — spun out with Apple and VLSI Technology as Advanced RISC Machines, then bought by SoftBank, then listed. That is why the graph forks: Acorn and Arm are not the same entity with a continuous history, and treating them as one is how you end up saying "Acorn is worth $54bn", which is false. Acorn is worth nothing; it does not exist.

1978 — Hermann Hauser founded Acorn Computers (with Chris Curry, in Cambridge)
1978 — Chris Curry founded Acorn Computers (the other co-founder, previously at Sinclair Radionics)
1981 — Acorn Computers created BBC Micro (the machine built for the BBC's schools project)
1983 — Acorn Computers appointed Sophie Wilson (designed the processor's instruction set)
1983 — Acorn Computers appointed Steve Furber (designed the processor's architecture)
1985 — Sophie Wilson created The first ARM chip (the first working ARM chip)
1990 — The first ARM chip was succeeded by Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (the chip work spun out as a company)
1990 — Acorn Computers spun off Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (with Apple and VLSI Technology)
1990 — Apple founded Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (a founding partner, needing a low-power processor)
1990 — VLSI Technology founded Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (the third founding partner)
1999 — Acorn Computers rebranded as Element 14 (the remainder, renamed)
2000 — Broadcom acquired Element 14 (the engineering team, not the computer business)
2016 — SoftBank acquired Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (about $31.4bn)

Entities in this tree: Hermann Hauser (person); Chris Curry (person, 1943); Acorn Computers (company, 1978); BBC Micro (product); Sophie Wilson (person); Steve Furber (person); The first ARM chip (product); Advanced RISC Machines (Arm) (company); Apple (company); VLSI Technology (company); SoftBank (company); Element 14 (company); Broadcom (company)

Sources

Celebrating 40 years of the Arm architecture: from Cambridge to the world — Arm Newsroom (2026-10-10)
SoftBank's Arm valued at $54.5 billion in year's biggest IPO — Reuters (2026-10-10)
Arm releases first in-house chip, with Meta as debut customer — CNBC (2026-10-10)
Cambridge-based Raspberry Pi shares soar on London stock market — BBC News (2026-10-10)
Meet ARM1, grandfather of today's mobe, tablet CPUs — The Register (2026-10-10)
How the Spectrum began a revolution — the BBC Micro's launch price and timing — BBC News (2026-10-10)
Arm corporate history — Arm (2026-10-10)
Sinclair Research — the rival that won the bedrooms while Acorn won the schools — WhereIsAtlas (2026-10-10)

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