SoftBank-owned British chip design startup Arm eyes September IPO valued at around $70 billion
Nickie Louise
Posted On August 2, 2023
In March, there were reports that Arm Ltd, a British chip design firm owned by SoftBank, was considering raising prices for its chip designs. The aim was to increase revenue before their planned initial public offering (IPO) in New York. At the time, Arm informed several of its customers of a “significant shift” to its business model in preparation for the upcoming IPO.
Four months later, Arm is now looking to go public with an IPO valuation ranging between $60 billion and $70 billion, and this could happen as soon as September, according to a report by Bloomberg News on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Arm and SoftBank declined the media’s request for comment.
According to Bloomberg, the roadshow for Arm’s IPO is scheduled to kick off in the first week of September, with pricing expected in the following week.
As we know, Arm, which is owned by SoftBank Group Corp, had filed confidentially for its U.S. stock market listing back in April, making it the largest IPO of the year. The company aims to sell its shares on Nasdaq later in the year, with the goal of raising between $8 billion and $10 billion, as reported by Reuters in April.
Arm’s chip designs play a crucial role in the production of chips for major semiconductor companies worldwide, including Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm. However, the impact of an IPO investment on Arm’s existing commercial relationships with these companies remains uncertain.
Earlier this year, Arm turned down a proposal from the British government to list its shares on the London stock exchange and opted to pursue a flotation on a U.S. exchange instead.
Founded in 1981 by Masayoshi Son in September, the Tokyo, Japan-based SoftBank is a multinational telecommunications and internet corporation focused on broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, internet, technology services, finance, media, marketing, and other businesses. Softbank is the sixth-largest telephone operating company with total revenue of $74.7 billion. The company has invested in a lot of startups including Uber.
