Fab costs prohibit many start-ups and small companies to pursue custom SoC development. Does ARM have any plans to help companies on this, maybe with some fab partners similar to the design partners

ARM does partner with fabs, providing physical libraries and PoPs optimised for a particular fab.  The cost of chips may not be as expensive as you might think however – many custom SoCs use more mature technology (for example 180nm or 90nm) where the capital costs of the fab have already been recouped.  For example, it is possible to get 45 samples of a 25mm² test chip on a multi-project wafer for as little as $16k.

Find out more about DesignStart here.