30.1.2. Free ARM implementations
The ARM instruction set is itself protected by patents / copyright / whatever, and you have to pay ARM Holdings a licence to implement it, even if you are creating your own custom Verilog code.
ARM has already sued people in the past for implementing ARM ISA: http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1287452
Asanovic joked that the shortest unit of time is not the moment between a traffic light turning green in New York City and the cab driver behind the first vehicle blowing the horn; it’s someone announcing that they have created an open-source, ARM-compatible core and receiving a “cease and desist” letter from a law firm representing ARM.
This licensing however does have the following fairness to it: ARM Holdings invents a lot of money in making a great open source software environment for the ARM ISA, so it is only natural that it should be able to get some money from hardware manufacturers for using their ISA.
Patents for very old ISAs however have expired, Amber is one implementation of those: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_%28processor_core%29 TODO does it have any application?
Generally, it is mostly large companies that implement the CPUs themselves. For example, the Apple A12 chip, which is used in iPhones, has verilog designs:
The A12 features an Apple-designed 64-bit ARMv8.3-A six-core CPU, with two high-performance cores running at 2.49 GHz called Vortex and four energy-efficient cores called Tempest.
ARM designed CPUs however are mostly called Coretx-A<id>: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_applications_of_ARM_cores Vortex and Tempest are Apple designed ones.
Bibliography: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-it-that-you-need-a-license-from-ARM-to-design-an-ARM-CPU-How-are-the-instruction-sets-protected