Apple has entered a new long-term agreement with Arm for chip technology that is projected to “extend beyond 2040,” as revealed in Arm’s initial public offering (IPO) documents released on Tuesday, reports Reuters.
Arm, which owns the intellectual property for the computational architecture utilized in the majority of the world’s smartphones, has priced its upcoming IPO at a potential value of $52 billion USD. If successful, this would mark the largest IPO in the U.S. for the current year.
According to the documents, SoftBank Group, the owner of Arm, aims to offer 95.5 million American depository shares of the UK-based company at a price range of $47 to $51 per share.
Apple, which has been utilizing Arm’s technology to design custom chips for its range of products including iPhones, iPads, and Macs, was among several tech giants that invested a combined $735 million in Arm’s IPO on Tuesday. This investment by Apple and others further solidifies Arm’s influential position in the chip market.
The relationship between Apple and Arm isn’t new. In fact, Apple was one of the foundational partners of Arm back in 1990, prior to Apple’s launch of the “Newton” handheld computer in 1993, powered by an Arm-based processor chip. While the Newton didn’t achieve commercial success, Arm’s technology became a cornerstone in mobile phone chips due to its efficiency, which significantly extends battery life.
Interestingly, the recent deal with Apple wasn’t mentioned in Arm’s IPO filing documents released on August 21. This suggests that the agreement was finalized between late August and early September.
