Nvidia in talks to become anchor investor in Arm IPO

SoftBank Group Corp’s chip designer Arm Ltd is in talks to bring in Nvidia as an anchor investor as it presses ahead with plans for a New York listing that could happen in September, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Nvidia is one of several potential investors to hold talks with Arm to take a long-term stake in the company at the time of its initial public offering (IPO), the sources said on Wednesday. Arm could raise as much as $10 billion from its stock market flotation, sources have previously told Reuters.

The talks are at an early stage, and Arm is not looking to sign any other commercial agreements beyond a financial infusion from investors, the sources added.

SoftBank had been planning to sell Arm to U.S. chip designer Nvidia in a deal worth up to $80 billion, but that fell through last year due to objections from U.S. and European antitrust regulators. It has been targeting an IPO for the unit since then.

Arm’s IPO is expected to boost the fortunes of the Japanese conglomerate, which is battling to turn around its giant Vision Fund, which has been hit by losses due to the declining valuations of many of its holdings in technology startups.

In June, Reuters reported that Arm was in talks with at least ten potential investors, including Intel Corp, Alphabet, and TSMC.

In April, Arm filed paperwork with regulators for a U.S. stock market listing. Reuters