Top Tech Giants Apple, Google, Nvidia among Potential Buyers for Arm Shares

Chip design firm Arm revealed in a filing on Tuesday that tech giants like Apple, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Nvidia, and others are showing interest in purchasing up to $735 million of its shares as it prepares to go public on Nasdaq.

While these investments are not guaranteed, their consideration highlights the significance of Arm, whose designs are widely used in processors for data center servers, consumer devices, and industrial products.

Industry leaders such as Intel, Samsung, and TSMC, along with AMD and MediaTek, which incorporate Arm architectures in their chip designs, have also expressed interest in joining the investment alongside the trillion-dollar technology companies. Companies like Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys, which develop software for processor development, have also shown interest, as stated in a revised prospectus for Arm’s shares sale found here. As part of this deal, Arm’s market capitalization could reach $52 billion, and it could secure nearly $5 billion in new cash.

Technology IPOs have been relatively rare in recent years due to higher interest rates deterring investors from betting on high-growth, risky companies. However, Arm, founded in 1990, stands out. It was previously listed in London and New York before being acquired by SoftBank for $32 billion in 2016. In the second quarter, Arm generated a $105 million profit on $675 million in revenue.

In 2020, Nvidia announced its intention to acquire Arm from SoftBank for $40 billion. However, regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and U.K. caused the deal to collapse in 2022, paving the way for Arm’s current IPO in the United States. Nvidia has also introduced its own Arm-based chip that complements its graphics processing units.

Despite the unsuccessful acquisition, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang spoke highly of Arm during the chip-design company’s IPO roadshow.

“Arm is an extraordinary company, and everybody in the world knows how fond I am of this company and of this platform and this franchise and world-class management team,” Huang said, donning his signature leather jacket in a prerecorded roadshow video.

Nvidia is collaborating with Arm on a new cloud data center ecosystem, according to Huang. Historically, Intel chips have dominated the data center server market.

Huang isn’t the only external promoter of Arm. Rick Tsai, vice chairman and CEO of MediaTek, also made an appearance during Arm’s virtual roadshow, suggesting that more jointly developed products will emerge over time.

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