Apple has signed a new chip technology deal with Arm that “extends beyond 2040,” according to Arm’s IPO filing on Tuesday. Arm on Tuesday announced the pricing of its $52 billion (Rs 43,195.1 crore) initial public offering, which will be the largest such deal in the US this year. Arm owner SoftBank Group Corp plans to issue 95.5 million American depositary shares of the British company at a price of $47 (about Rs 3,900) to $51 (about Rs 4,235) each, Arm said in a filing.
Arm owns the intellectual property behind the computing architecture of most of the world’s smartphones and licenses it to Apple and many other companies. Apple uses Arm’s technology in the process of designing its own custom chips for its iPhones, iPads and Macs.
The two companies have a long history — Apple was one of the first companies to partner to form the company in 1990, before releasing the “Newton” handheld computer in 1993 that used an Arm-based processor chip. Newton failed, but Arm continues to dominate mobile phone chips because of its low power consumption, which helps to extend battery life.
Apple was one of a number of big tech companies investing $735 million (roughly Rs 6,105 crore) in Arm’s IPO on Tuesday. Reuters was first to confirm last week that Apple was among the strategic investors agreeing to buy the shares.
The deal disclosed on Tuesday was not mentioned in Arm’s previous IPO filing, which was made public on Aug. 21, meaning it was signed between then and Sept. 5.
Arm declined to comment outside of its filing, and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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