Chip-design giant ARM has announced that it has acquired Apical, a computer vision and image processing specialist, for some $350m. The deal is an expansionist acquisition for ARM, which should add a valuable IoT component to its IP cores, as it hedges bets against future shifts in the market. It’s a move that is comparable to what Qualcomm is doing – expanding from its core smartphone and baseband markets and chasing new potentially lucrative applications, in drones and VR, to brace against stagnation or increased competition. Intel is pulling a similar maneuver, and with the Apical buy, ARM is ensuring that its IP cores meet as many use cases as possible – in this case, making sure that autonomous cars…