In a groundbreaking move, Apple has inked a new pact with Arm, extending their chip supply partnership far into the future, as revealed in Arm’s recent IPO documents. This partnership is poised to reshape the tech landscape, with far-reaching implications beyond 2040.
Arm, in its quest for a monumental $52 billion IPO, has laid out its pricing parameters and ambitions to make this the largest deal of its kind in the U.S. this year. SoftBank Group, Arm’s owner, plans to offer 95.5 million American depositary shares of this British tech giant at prices ranging from $47 to $51 each, as disclosed in the documents.
At the heart of this deal lies Arm’s ownership of the intellectual property that underpins the computing architecture of most smartphones, licensing this to Apple and numerous other tech giants. Apple, in turn, leverages Arm’s technology in crafting the chips that power the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The relationship between these two tech titans is not new; it traces its roots back to the early ’90s when Apple, one of Arm’s inaugural clients, launched the Newton pocket computer in 1993, housing an Arm-based processor chip. While the Newton eventually fizzled, Arm emerged as the dominant player in the realm of cell phone chips. Its unique selling point: unrivaled power efficiency, significantly extending device battery life.
Notably, Apple is among a cohort of major tech firms that collectively invested a whopping $735 million in Arm’s recent IPO. This strategic move underscores Apple’s commitment to the partnership.
What’s truly astonishing is that this game-changing deal, revealed on September 5, was conspicuously absent from Arm’s IPO documents published on August 21. This suggests that the ink was still drying on the agreement between these two tech giants within this short time frame.
For now, Arm is maintaining a tight-lipped stance beyond the details disclosed in its official documents, and Apple, unsurprisingly, has remained silent in response to queries. However, the implications of this agreement reverberate across the tech landscape. Apple’s push towards chip autonomy, combined with Arm’s groundbreaking architecture, signals a formidable alliance that’s set to redefine the tech frontier well beyond 2040.