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Arm and Credo offer exposure to different parts of the technology buildout: Arm licenses processor and systems technology and earns royalties when customers use it in chips, while Credo sells connectivity products for data infrastructure. Credo’s latest reported quarter showed much faster year-over-year revenue growth; that alone does not make its shares the better buy. A defensible choice depends on each stock’s current valuation, the durability of its growth, and the risks an investor is willing to accept.

Are Arm and Credo direct competitors?

No. They can both benefit from investment in computing and AI infrastructure, but they monetize different layers of it. Arm is principally an intellectual-property company; Credo supplies products that move data through infrastructure. Their results need not rise or fall together, and comparing them as rival CPU designers would misrepresent their businesses.

How does each company make money?

Arm: license technology, then earn royalties

Arm designs CPU, GPU and systems intellectual property, compute subsystems, software, tools and services. Customers license Arm technology for use in chips, and Arm can earn royalties as those chips ship. Licensing revenue may vary with the timing and size of agreements; royalty revenue depends on customers’ chip volumes and adoption of Arm designs. Arm’s FY2026 annual report also says it introduced production silicon with the Arm AGI CPU in March 2026, adding a hardware dimension to a business principally built around IP licensing and royalties.

Credo: sell connectivity products for data infrastructure

Credo’s portfolio includes active electrical cables, optical transceivers and components, retimers, chip-to-chip connectivity products and diagnostic software. Its September 1, 2026 earnings release positions these products for data-center and AI infrastructure. Product revenue depends on customer deployments, design wins, qualification and continued infrastructure spending; it is not the same kind of recurring monetization as Arm’s licensing-and-royalty model.

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What do the latest reported results show?

The periods differ, so the figures below are not a like-for-like comparison of matching fiscal quarters or years. Arm’s fiscal year ended March 31; Credo’s FY2026 ended May 2.

Company and period Reported results Forward-looking information
Arm FY2026, year ended March 31, 2026 Revenue was $4.920 billion, compared with $4.007 billion in FY2025; profit before tax was $960 million. These figures are from Arm’s FY2026 annual report. No comparable forward revenue guidance is established here.
Credo Q1 FY2027, ended August 1, 2026; results released September 1, 2026 Revenue was $479.0 million, up 114.7% year over year and 9.6% quarter over quarter. GAAP gross margin was 64.5%, GAAP net income was $129.4 million, and cash plus short-term investments totaled $764.3 million at quarter-end. These are company-reported figures. Management guided to Q2 FY2027 revenue of $525 million to $535 million for the quarter ending October 31, 2026. This is guidance, not a reported result.

Credo’s reported growth is markedly faster in its latest disclosed quarter, but one quarter does not establish how long that pace can continue. Arm’s annual revenue and profit figures describe a different period and business model. Credo’s September 1 release also provides non-GAAP measures; the figures above use GAAP results rather than comparing non-GAAP margins with Arm’s reported figures.

Rank #2
Digilent Zybo Z7: Zynq-7000 ARM/FPGA SoC Development Board (Zybo Z7-20)
  • Zybo Z7 comes in two APSoC variants: Zybo Z7-10 features Xilinx XC7Z010-1CLG400C. Zybo Z7-20 features the larger Xilinx XC7Z020-1CLG400C. Either variant also has the option to add the SDSoC voucher.
  • A feature-rich, ready-to-use embedded software and digital circuit development board with a rich set of multimedia and connectivity peripherals to create a formidable single-board computer
  • Built around the Xilinx Zynq-7000 AP SoC, with 650MHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor and DDR3 memory controller with 8 DMA channels
  • On board user interfaces include 6 push buttons, 4 slide switches, 5 LEDs, 2 RGB LEDs, and more
  • Expansion opportunities with six Pmod connector ports, over 30 FPGA I/O, four Analog capable 0-1.0V differential pairs to XADC, and more

What could make Arm the stronger investment?

  • Broader IP exposure: Arm’s licensing and royalty model reaches customers that incorporate its designs into their chips, rather than relying only on sales of a particular connectivity product.
  • Two routes to revenue: Licence agreements and downstream royalties can contribute at different points in a customer’s product cycle, although both depend on customers adopting Arm technology and shipping products.
  • A changing product footprint: The FY2026 annual report’s announcement of production silicon with the Arm AGI CPU indicates an additional hardware initiative, but does not by itself establish its future contribution to revenue or profit.

What could make Credo the stronger investment?

  • Recent growth momentum: Its Q1 FY2027 revenue growth and sequential increase were substantial, and management’s Q2 outlook points to further sequential growth if achieved.
  • Focused exposure to connectivity demand: Investors seeking a company whose products serve data movement within data-center and AI infrastructure may find Credo’s business more directly tied to that theme.
  • Reported GAAP profitability and liquidity: Credo reported GAAP net income and $764.3 million in cash and short-term investments at the end of Q1 FY2027. Those quarter-end figures provide context, but do not guarantee future profitability or cash generation.

What risks should investors compare?

Arm’s disclosed customer concentration and policy exposure

Arm’s FY2026 filing says its five largest customers, including Arm China and SoftBank Group, accounted for approximately 57% of revenue in FY2026, compared with 56% in FY2025 and 54% in FY2024. Arm China alone accounted for approximately 16%, 17% and 21% in those respective years. The filing also identifies U.S. and PRC trade and national-security policies, export controls and supply restrictions as risks that could limit or make business more expensive. These are disclosed risks, not predictions that a particular restriction will occur.

The same filing discusses competition, reliance on semiconductor demand and customer adoption, dependence on third parties to sell chips incorporating Arm designs, development of more integrated products, and the interests of SoftBank as controlling shareholder. Each could affect execution or how shareholders assess the company.

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Rank #3
Waveshare Luckfox Lyra Plus RK3506G2 Linux Micro Development Board, Integrates Tripe-core ARM Cortex-A7 and ARM Cortex-M0 Processors, with Ethernet Port, Without Header
  • There are several options for this item, this option is without header. Please click the image 2 to check the package content.
  • Luckfox Lyra is a cost-effective Linux micro development board based on the Rockchip RK3506G2 to provide a simple and efficient development platform. Onboard multiple high-speed interfaces including MIPI DSl, RMll, USB, etc. to meet various application scenarios.
  • The low-speed interfaces utilize Rockchip Matrix l0 design which supports multiplexing 98 function siqnals on GPlO pins, and can freely combine PWM, UART, 12C, SPl, and l2S for quick development and debugging.
  • Tripe-core ARM Cortex-A7 32-bit core, with integrated VFP to support single- and double-precision floating-point operations. Built-in ARM Cortex-M0 MCU design, supports SMP and AMP configuration. Built-in 128MB DDRL3 for multi-core applications
  • The low-speed interfaces adopt Rockchip Matrix IO design, which allows rich function signals to share the limited chip pins, making peripheral circuit adaptation more flexible. Built-in audio and video codec, supports multiple audio inputs and outputs, providing high-quality audio playback and recording functions

Credo’s concentration and execution questions

Credo’s September 1 earnings release supports its reported results and product focus, but does not establish a current customer-concentration percentage. Its investor-relations site lists a September 2, 2026 Form 10-Q; consult that filing for customer concentration, supply dependencies, acquisition accounting, share-based compensation and risk-factor detail before drawing a quantified comparison with Arm.

For Credo, the central business questions include whether customer deployments and design wins can sustain growth, whether it can broaden its product mix, and how exposed it is to infrastructure spending cycles. The reported growth and management outlook do not settle those questions.

Rank #4
2Pcs Raspberry Pi Pico Development Board, Raspberry Pi RP2040 Dual-core ARM Cortex M0+ Processor, Running Up to 133 MHz, Support C/C++/Python, 2MB Quad SPI Flash Integrated with SPI/I2C/UART Interface
  • The Raspberry Pi Pico is a beginner-friendly microcontroller board that uses MicroPython to give you a taste of the Internet of Things and microcontrollers. The RP2040 is a well-designed microprocessor that can be utilized in almost any Internet of Things project. It has enough power to complete the task quickly.
  • 【Raspberry Pi RP2040 Microcontroller】Raspberry Pi Pico features Dual-core ARM Cortex M0+ processor, flexible clock running up to 133 MHz. With 264KB of SRAM, and 2MB of on-board Flash memory.Supports up to 16 MB of off chip flash memory via a dedicated QSPI bus
  • 【Multiple Software Support】Pico has rich and complete software support, it comes with a complete Rasberry Pi official C/C++ SDK, Micropython SDK.The programming and burning of Pico need to be carried out on the computer. Supported operating systems and computers include:Raspberry Pie with Raspberry Pi OS,Other platforms equipped with Debian based Linux system Computer with MacOS, Computers with Windows, etc.
  • 【Rich Hardware Interface】Raspberry Pi Pico has 30 GPIO pins, 4 pins for analog signal input and 26 × multi-function GPIO pins, 2 × SPI, 2 × I2C, 2 × UART, 3 × 12-bit ADC, 16 × controllable PWM channels.USB 1.1 supported by host and device, The installation mode can be flexibly selected by users to facilitate welding with other development boards.
  • 【Build Project in Tiny Size】Only 2.1cm*5.1cm ( as small as your thumb). Pico has been designed to use either soldered 0.1" pin-headers or can be used as a surface-mountable 'module'.
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What would determine which stock is the better buy?

Company results explain what each business has delivered; they do not establish what investors are paying for that performance. No verified same-date share prices or comparable forward valuation multiples are available here, so it is not possible to say which stock is cheaper or more attractive on valuation.

  1. Use a common date: Check share prices and market capitalizations or enterprise values for both companies on the same date. Avoid combining quotes from different sessions or periods.
  2. Match the valuation measure to the business: Forward price-to-sales can help compare expectations when earnings estimates are less meaningful, while forward earnings multiples are useful only if estimates are available and definitions are comparable. Note the estimate period and data provider.
  3. Test the growth expectations embedded in the price: For Credo, consider whether the current valuation assumes continued rapid data-center connectivity growth. For Arm, consider how licensing and royalty growth, customer chip shipments and the newer silicon effort relate to the valuation.
  4. Assess downside as well as upside: Include each company’s customer and execution risks, and examine Credo’s 10-Q before making a relative concentration claim. A fast-growing company can still disappoint if expectations are even higher.
  5. Set your own holding period and risk tolerance: A focused, rapidly growing connectivity business and a broad IP ecosystem business present different paths and potential volatility. Neither profile is automatically suitable for every investor.

How to frame the choice in 2026

On the company evidence available through October 5, 2026, Credo is the higher-growth, focused connectivity thesis, while Arm is the broader IP ecosystem thesis with licensing and royalty exposure. The evidence supports that distinction, not a universal buy verdict. The better purchase for an individual investor depends on current valuation, the time horizon, tolerance for growth volatility and confidence that infrastructure investment will persist.

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