Customers of Arm Holdings Ltd, including Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Alphabet Inc, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, have agreed to invest in the chip designer’s initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation between $50 billion and $55 billion. Other investors, such as Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Cadence Design Systems Inc, and Synopsys Inc, have also agreed to participate in the IPO. The talks are ongoing, and more potential investors are in discussions to invest in the IPO.
The move represents a climb-down in valuation from the $64 billion at which SoftBank acquired the 25% stake in Arm that it did not already own from its $100 billion Vision Fund last month. SoftBank, which owns Arm, is targeting a valuation between $50 billion and $55 billion for the IPO, and Arm’s clients have agreed to invest within that range.
Apple, Nvidia, and the other strategic investors have each agreed to invest between $25 million and $100 million in the IPO. Arm and SoftBank have set aside 10% of the shares to be sold in the IPO for its clients, and Amazon.com Inc, which had previously held talks to invest, has decided not to participate.
The IPO is attracting significant interest from Arm’s clients, who are some of the world’s largest technology companies. They are eager to expand their commercial relationship with Arm and ensure that competitors do not gain an advantage. Although an investment in the IPO does not come with a seat on Arm’s board or the ability to direct its strategy, it can strengthen ties with each participating company and make it more difficult for a competitor to acquire Arm in the future.
Arm and SoftBank have not yet provided any comments on the IPO. Other companies, such as AMD, Intel, Synopsys, and Nvidia, declined to comment, while Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Samsung, and Cadence did not respond immediately. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Arm’s valuation target.