> Hard to believe they have the resources to create this.

According to the Applied Micro CEO, not only have they created their X-Gene core from the ARMv8 ISA spec but they also helped ARM Ltd. to outline this spec to begin with:

"When we did the deal with ARM, we licensed the micro architecture. We did not get ARM’s cores... we got 300 pieces of paper, out of which half were blank, which we helped fill up and thus got a discount (laughs)."
http://www.businessworld.in/businessworld/businessworld/content/Open-Source-Ultimate-Leveller.html