While Bloomberg News reported Arm was aiming to be valued at $US60 billion to $US70 billion in an IPO raising $US8 billion to $US10 billion, that target could be lower since SoftBank has decided to hold on to more of the company after buying Vision Fund’s stake in it.
The listing is set to be the largest in the US since electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive’s $US13.7 billion offering in November 2021. An all-time high of $US339 billion was raised in more than 1000 IPOs that year before the window for new major listings was all but closed. Chief executive Rene Haas has been steering the company to sign up more customers that make chips for computers, servers and data centres, a more lucrative area than the mobile market.
The IPO will include several strategic investors, who will buy about $US100 million of common stock each, according to people familiar with the matter. Though it involves smaller sums, that’s in the same vein as a 2012 deal in which ASML brought in some of its biggest customers – Samsung Electronics, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co – as investors.