Arm IPO update: Filing reveals SoftBank’s target valuation as listing day approaches

It’s been a slow year for IPOs so far, but many signs are pointing to increased activity during the last quarter of 2023. Case in point: High-profile chip designer Arm is finally going public, and it could mark the biggest listing of the year.

Arm’s updated F-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicates that it is seeking a valuation of up to $52 billion. The company will list 95.5 million American depository shares (ADS), which will represent 95.5 million ordinary shares, at a price range between $47 and $51, and trade under the “ARM” ticker. There is no exact date for the IPO yet, but it’ll represent yet another high-profile company to go public in the latter half of 2023, in addition to listings from Instacart and Klaviyo. 

With this year’s explosion of interest in technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, Arm’s IPO could prove to be one of the largest in many years. The potential is there for investors as well, as the company’s filing says that it controls nearly 49% of the chip and processor market. Its products are used across the spectrum in devices like smartphones.

For those with a sense of deja vu, this would be the second time that Arm will have gone public. It first started trading on public exchanges in the late 1990s under the ARMH ticker. Arm is owned by SoftBank Group, a Japanese holding company, which purchased the company in 2016 for $32 billion and took it private. Therefore, Arm’s IPO could lead to a sizable return for SoftBank, which was burned in recent years by ambitious investments in loss-making startups like WeWork—a company that is now warning investors its days may be numbered.

Arm’s IPO is long-awaited, with indications first surfacing earlier this year that the company planned to go public. With market conditions having improved over the course of the year, Arm’s leadership and investors evidently feel that now is the time to act. As the company’s F-1 filing details, numerous tech companies have signaled they’re prepared to purchase as much as $735 million in Arm stock as a part of the offering.

That in itself is a signal of confidence from the market and could spur other investors to jump in. Among those companies, per Arm’s F-1 filing, are Apple, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Google, Nvidia, and Samsung. 

An official Arm IPO date hasn’t been set quite yet, but reporting from The Wall Street Journal suggests that final pricing and listing details—likely on the Nasdaq exchange—should surface next week.