RISC-V is the wildcard. Although it is open, the amount of effort required to design and make SoCs that effective compete with ARM licensed designs could cost more than simply paying ARM licensing fees and royalties.
Ultimately if a lot of experienced ARM designers defect to RISC-V firms, then the balance could tilt to RISC-V. I suspect that the talk about takeovers would be causing some unease in the technical ranks.
Ultimately if a lot of experienced ARM designers defect to RISC-V firms, then the balance could tilt to RISC-V. I suspect that the talk about takeovers would be causing some unease in the technical ranks.