SoftBank tipped to buy out remaining Arm ownership stake

SoftBank is reportedly set to acquire the remaining ownership stake of chip designer Arm.

Multiple media reports indicate that the Japanese investment giant has bought out the 25 percent stake of Arm which had previously been controlled by Vision Fund.

The deal is said to value Arm at roughly $64bn and gives SoftBank further control over the price it can set for share sales.

Arm declined to comment on the matter, while SoftBank could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

The deal would give SoftBank full ownership of Arm just days before the chip designer is set to provide details on an IPO that would likely be held later this year. It has been reported that due to its larger ownership stake, SoftBank will now be inclined to offer fewer shares for public purchase.

An Arm IPO has long been said to be in the works, as SoftBank looks to monetize its ownership stake in the legendary UK-based chip design firm. After a potential $40bn purchase by Nvidia fell through last year amidst licensing and antitrust concerns in the UK and US, going public became a foregone conclusion.

A formal announcement from Arm with full details on the IPO and the initial share valuation could happen as soon as Monday.  

Word of the deal and the imminent Arm IPO comes amidst what has been a tumultuous period in the chip market.

Earlier this week, Intel saw a setback in its efforts to expand its foundry business when a planned $5.4bn acquisition of Tower Semiconductor fell through amidst regulatory concerns expressed by the Chinese government.

While Arm does not directly manufacture chips itself, the company's designs have for decades indispensable for the mobile and embedded markets as vendors license the designs as the basis for their hardware platforms.

Though Arm has yet to fully crack the server space, the platform has been making some progress into that market as well.