Nvidia aren't going to change ARM's licencing model. Apart from anything, Apple simply won't allow it as the existing model suits them perfectly due to the fact they can design and fab their own ARM based silicon with custom instructions that perform better than the competition's ARM based silicon.Of course it can be standardized.
If Nvidia completes their ARM purchase .... and they really want to kill x86. Yes they will need to standardize a ARM socket, and platform. Does that mean they still can't license ARM to Apple or Rasberry or Samsung or some Chinese company to use in some super locked down priority thing. Of course not. However if they want to go after the Desktop / Gaming market at some point yes they need a official ARM socket.... and ideally a platform on which to sell MOBOs. If Dell wants to build their own ARM systems and get chips from whoever so be it... but they will also need the option to buy a socketed version. So they can do the standard... buy this model with X or Y, a bit more ram a bit less, a 8 core arm or a 12 core arm. ECT ECT.
If they want to replace the x86 PC industry... they are going to have to have a option that looks a lot more like the current system. Yes they need a standardized platform AS well. It doesn't have to be exclusive. They are going to continue selling ARM to companies like Fujitsu who will make continue to make massive 48+ core chips that will need 8000 pins. However they will have to standardize something more consumer focused where as consumers we could hopefully buy a Nvidia chip or a Qcomm chip or a 16 core Fujitsu home version. There is a place for the super specialized locked down stuff... but if they want to go after the market for real they will need a standardized platform.
If Nvidia isn't completely stupid that is exactly what they will do. If I was them I would have the standards already completed on paper and ready to throw in regulators faces when they say; "Qcomm says you are going to be bad stewards, and are in general evil." Nvidias response should be no no we are going to open ARM like never before make CPUs inter changeable and open the ARM consumer platform to the mother board manufacturer industry ect.
What Nvidia and ARM need to create is a situation where in 2 years you could buy a "Asus ROG Nvidia Socket 1" + "64GB of Corsair DDR5" + "AMD RX7700" + "Samsung 980 Pro" + "Nvidia Tegra V9 3.6ghz 12 core Socket 1 CPU" {or any other ARM license holder that wants to build their CPUs in socket 1 format]
Then you have something that could really put the boots to x86. In combo with that if Nvidia is pushing their own Linux distro as Intel does with clear. And Microsoft puts out a proper version of Windows ARM (imo if it ran on Linux that would be the best solution for MS and the market) where the newest kernel had drivers for basically anyones ARM chips. At that point Intel who.... AMD would unmothball K1 pretty fast and I think ARM could basically completely replace x86 faster then even I would dream of.
To quote Nvidia:
Commitment to Arm and the UK
As part of NVIDIA, Arm will continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining the global customer neutrality that has been foundational to its success, with 180 billion chips shipped to-date by its licensees. Arm partners will also benefit from both companies’ offerings, including NVIDIA’s numerous innovations.
https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/...-premier-computing-company-for-the-age-of-ai/
As far as sockets are concerned, we don't have a standardized socket under x86, why and how should ARM be any different? As stated, you can standardize one platform as a desktop platform, the RPi already has it's boot loader in rom that loads firmware stored in a particular partition on the SD card or storage medium into memory on boot - What's wrong with that?
This idea of integration doesn't work under the existing x86/UEFI model, as evidenced by devices like the PS4. Essentially, it's all moot and I see no evidence that any lack of integration is holding ARM back.