British chip designer ARM is preparing to list on the New York technology exchange NASDAQ. Given the recent deal by major shareholder Softbank, this could be the biggest IPO for some time.
Earlier this year, ARM had filed confidential documents for an IPO with US regulators without disclosing an estimated share price. But Japanese tech fund Softbank recently made a major investment in ARM’s remaining one-quarter stake. The deal valued ARM at more than US$64 billion. That’s twice the value of Softbank’s three-quarters stake in ARM seven years ago.
In 2022, chip rival NVIDIA made an offer for ARM, valuing the British company at US$40 billion. This offer was accepted by the UK but ultimately did not move forward due to some regulations.
In fiscal year 2023, ARM posted a net profit of USD 524 million on revenues of USD 2.68 billion. The company was founded in 1990 and traded on the London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ before being acquired by Softbank; ARM recently decided to start manufacturing advanced semiconductors in-house.
