Companies like Apple and Samsung are the public face of the smartphone and tablet boom, but they all rely on ARM, the British company that licenses the energy-efficient processor designs required by mobile devices. Those chips were once considered significantly less powerful than the x86 processors found in desktops, laptops, and servers—a market dominated by Intel—but that gap appears to be closing. Microsoft is exploring a switch to ARM’s technology for traditional computers, suggesting that ARM’s technology will soon shape more than just mobile computing. ARM’s CEO, Warren East, met this week with MIT Technology Review’s senior IT editor, Tom Simonite.

For decades the computing business has been guided by Moore’s Law, which predicts the rate of improvements in computing power. You have a different focus.