Feb 09 (Nikkei) - SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son on Tuesday said he plans to take U.K. semiconductor design company Arm public in what would be "the largest IPO in semiconductor history," after a deal to sell it to U.S. chipmaker Nvidia was scrapped on regulatory pushback.
Speaking at SoftBank's earnings conference soon after the sale's termination was announced, Son said he is targeting an initial public offering of Arm by March 2023 on the U.S. exchange Nasdaq. Known as the dominant supplier of chip architecture for smartphones, Son said Arm is "entering the second phase of growth" as it takes market share from U.S. chipmaker Intel in areas like data centers and automotive. Arm appointed a new CEO on Tuesday, which took effect immediately.
"I did not expect that the governments of the countries would be so opposed" to a sale to Nvidia, Son admitted. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe expressed concerns on grounds that the deal would violate anti monopoly law, but "Nvidia and Arm are making different things."
"The Nvidia side was very keen on the merger until the end. But the governments of various countries took such a strong stand to block the merger, and we agreed to give up because it was unlikely to be approved even if we made further efforts," he said.
Watchdogs had expressed concerns about the deal after it was announced in September 2020, including the fact that Nvidia competes with companies that rely on Arm's chip designs. The transaction's collapse is a blow for SoftBank. The deal would have been based on a combination of cash and up to 8.1% of shares in Nvidia. The total deal size was worth up to $40 billion when it was first announced, but the stock portion alone was worth about $50 billion as of Tuesday, thanks to a rise in Nvidia's share price. ...continue reading
