To The Moon

UK based semiconductor stock “Arm” is going to IPO soon. Even before the IPO price is announced, this company with a very colourful past and is courting a lot of controversy even as this post is being penned. Historical Facts: It was founded in November 1990 as “Advanced RISC Machines Ltd”. It was structured as a joint venture between (Acorn Computers, Apple Computer) and VLSI Technology. Its first product was the “ARM1 processor”, a 32-bit RISC microprocessor for Acorn Computers. ARM's first major customer was $Nokia Oyj(NOK)$. In 1996, Nokia used the ARM6 processor in its 6110 mobile phones. In 1998, ARM went public on the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq raising £70 Million. It then expanded its product portfolio to include (a) graphics processing units (GPU), (b) system-on-chip infrastructure and software, and (c) development tools. Overtime, ARM became the dominant architecture for mobile devices, powering virtually all smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other embedded systems. In 2016, ARM was acquired by Japanese conglomerate $Softbank Group Corp(SFTBF)$ for £24.3 Billion. In short, ARM was privatized. In 2020, both $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ announced a planned takeover of ARM for $40 Billion. 2 years on, on 8 Feb 2022, Nvidia called off the takeover due to insurmountable regulatory hurdles. Around the same time, ARM’s CEO Simon Segars stepped down as well citing that time & energy required to take ARM via public listing and everything around was not what he was looking for. The president of Arm’s IP group - Rene Haas assumed the poled position. Interestingly, Rene Haas was an ex-Nvidia VP & General Manager of its computing products business. On the eve of ARM’s IPO, the entire environment surrounding the listing has become more of a story for a Hollywood movie (see above). Customers of the UK chip designer have held talks about taking a piece of the IPO included (1) $Apple(AAPL)$ , (2) $Amazon.com(AMZN)$ , (3) Intel, (4) Nvidia, (5) Alphabet, (7) Microsoft, (8) Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), (9) TSMC, (10) Cadence and (11) Synopsis. Only 10% of ARM will be available for IPO. The balance 90% will be “distributed” to the above Semiconductor giants. Above listed companies all desire to expand their commercial relationship with Arm, and make sure that their rivals do not gain an edge. All of them view ARM’s semiconductor designs as an indispensable resource. At stake are chips designed by ARM, used by > 260 technology companies to make over 30 Billion chips annually. These 30 Billion chips power 99% of the world’s smartphones and everything from the tiniest of sensors to the most powerful supercomputers. So much is at stake. One wrong move might just tip the advantage Nvidia currently enjoy into disadvantage. Does it make sense why the takeover of ARM by Nvidia failed as the other clients of Arm, complained to antitrust regulators about it. Already Apple Inc has committed to ARM with a contract for at least 17 years and more. In the process, Apple has secured access to a core piece of intellectual property, the Arm architecture, used in its iPhone and Mac chips, for the foreseeable future. With so much brouhaha surrounding ARM, I have no doubt that this UK chip designer will zoom on its debut. Are you ready for its October 2023 listing? It is only a few weeks away. In case you are interested, my other “PICK” posts. Please enjoy : Invest in Oil stocks (XOM, CVX, OXY) now? Click here!. Give a “like” ok. Thanks. AI stock AAPL September high? Data says so. Click here! Google’s technical win in AI battle. Find out! Click here!. Do you think Nvidia will have an advantage with ARM after its IPO? Do you think you will take a stab at this stock when it lists? Please give a “LIKe”, “Share” and “Re-post” ok. Thanks. Rating is very important (to me). Do consider “Follow me” and get firsthand read of my daily new post/s ok. Thanks. @Daily_Discussion @TigerPM @TigerStars @Tiger_SG @TigerEvents