One of the ironies of the current Open RAN platform is that, while seeking to break the dominance of a few large equipment vendors, it risks delivering a monopoly position to Intel. It is conceivable that Open RAN could be a repeat of the PC and server markets, with diversity in the vendors that could make the boxes, but a near-monopoly in the processors. The ARM community is determined to avoid that, and to rise to the demands of many operators for diversity and openness in the silicon layer. Individual ARM-based chipmakers like Marvell have already developed products for vRAN and Open RAN, in a bid to narrow the lead that Intel has achieved via its vRAN cooperations with giants…