Rene Haas, the chief executive of Cambridge‑based chip designer Arm Holdings, has told the BBC that artificial intelligence will one day deliver a cure for cancer that humans could not achieve in their lifetimes. He also forecast widespread humanoid robots within five years, but warned that a global shortage of semiconductors is throttling the rollout of the data centres needed to power those advances.
AI’s Promise in Cancer Research
Haas described the modelling of a DNA marker affected by cancer as “too complex” a problem for today’s computers, yet he remains confident that feeding ever‑more sophisticated models into increasingly powerful machines will eventually crack it.
“AI is going to… find a cure for cancer that today you and I, other humans [could] not in our lifetimes. I believe in our lifetime, AI will help cure cancer.”
He added that as the models grow and the hardware improves, the computers “are going to solve it”.
Professor Chris Bakal of the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and CEO of Sentinal4D echoed the sentiment, stressing that the real challenge lies in the quality of data fed to AI systems.
“It is not scraped from the internet. It does not need a giant data centre to run. The future of medical AI will not belong to whoever builds the biggest computer. It will belong to whoever has the right measurements.”
Bakal noted that training AI on data generated from patient samples in his own labs could cut years off the timeline for developing new treatments, delivering tangible benefits to patients.
Humanoid Robots on the Horizon
Beyond healthcare, Haas sees AI‑enabled robots becoming commonplace in a range of sectors.
“With artificial intelligence, these robots can see, learn, and essentially be reprogrammed for new tasks. So, in the service industry, the robot that was programmed to make a bed can also learn how to arrange the towels in a room, or clean the dustbins, or whatever you want to go off and do.”
He anticipates self‑learning machines transforming manufacturing, cleaning, security, bridge building and repairs within a decade.
Chip Supply Bottleneck
The rapid expansion of AI, however, is being hampered by a scarcity of the very semiconductors that Arm designs.
Haas told the BBC that the current “supply‑constrained environment” means there simply aren’t enough chips to build the data centres required for large‑scale AI workloads. He pointed to planned multi‑gigawatt facilities in France, the United States and even concepts for orbital data centres, noting that more chip factories – or “fabs” – would be needed before such ambitions could be realised.
“We are absolutely in a supply‑constrained environment. Can you get enough chips? We need more fabs before we can put a data centre in space.”
Why UK Chip Manufacturing Isn’t on the Cards
When asked whether the UK could eventually host its own semiconductor fabs, Haas was dismissive.
“I don’t think it’s necessary for the UK to [build] fabs. Fabs are very expensive. They take a lot of specialised workers. They take a lot of natural resources, and there’s a pretty broad ecosystem for those.”
He noted that production remains heavily concentrated around Taiwan’s TSMC, and despite government discussions about reshoring parts of the supply chain, he does not foresee a shift to British soil.
Arm’s Market Surge and Future Plans
The AI boom has already lifted Arm’s fortunes. Earlier this summer the company’s peak share price made it, in cash terms, the most valuable UK‑based company in history. Haas revealed that Meta (the parent of Facebook) approached Arm to develop an Arm AGI chip, and demand has been “off the charts”, with more than $2 billion worth of orders since the chip launched in March.
Arm’s power‑efficient architecture now underpins roughly half of the world’s AI data centres, a shift that has prompted the firm to sell its own microchips alongside its traditional licensing model.
Addressing Job‑Loss Fears
Haas also sought to calm worries about mass unemployment caused by automation.
“While there would be some change for workers, the estimates of jobs going away and being completely replaced by machines is a bit overstated”
He argued that new opportunities would outweigh any displacement and that concerns over a market correction in AI‑related stocks were similarly exaggerated, given the long‑term demand for the technology.
Why it Matters
Rene Haas’s outlook places AI at the forefront of two transformative fronts – conquering cancer and embedding intelligent robots into everyday life – while simultaneously highlighting a critical vulnerability: the global chip shortage. If semiconductor supply cannot keep pace with the hunger for data‑centre capacity, the timelines for both medical breakthroughs and widespread robotic assistance could slip, affecting patients, industries and the UK’s position as a tech leader. The conversation also underscores that the UK’s future in high‑tech manufacturing may lie not in building costly fabs but in leveraging its design expertise, as Arm continues to do, to shape the next generation of computing.
