Arm Holdings plc is a British semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, England, whose primary business is the design of central processing unit (CPU) cores that implement the ARM architecture family of instruction sets. It also designs other chips, provides software development tools under the DS-5, RealView and Keil brands, and provides systems and platforms, system-on-chip (SoC) infrastructure and software. As a holding company, it also holds shares of other companies. Since 2016, it has been majority owned by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group.
"ARM" was originally an acronym for Acorn RISC Machine and later for Advanced RISC Machines. While ARM CPUs first appeared in the Acorn Archimedes, a desktop computer, today's systems include mostly embedded systems, including ARM CPUs used in virtually all modern smartphones, up to used in the fastest supercomputer. Processors based on designs licensed from Arm, or designed by licensees of one of the ARM instruction set architectures, are used in all classes of computing devices. Arm has two lines of graphics processing units (GPUs), Mali, and the newer Immortalis (which includes hardware-based ray-tracing).
Arm's main CPU competitors in servers include IBM, Intel and AMD. Intel competed with ARM-based chips in mobile devices but Arm no longer has any competition in that space (although vendors of actual ARM-based chips compete within that arena). Arm's main GPU competitors include mobile GPUs from technology companies Imagination Technologies (PowerVR), Qualcomm (Adreno), and increasingly Nvidia, AMD, Samsung and Intel. While competing in GPUs, Qualcomm, Samsung and Nvidia all have combined their GPUs with Arm-licensed CPUs.
Arm had a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It also had a secondary listing of American depositary receipts on New York's Nasdaq. However, Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank Group made an agreed offer for Arm on 18 July 2016, subject to approval by Arm's shareholders, valuing the company at £24.3 billion. The transaction was completed on 5 September 2016. A planned takeover deal by Nvidia, announced in 2020, collapsed in February 2022, with SoftBank subsequently deciding to pursue an initial public offering on the Nasdaq in 2023, valuing Arm at billion.
History
Name The acronym ARM was first used in 1983 and originally stood for "Acorn RISC Machine". Acorn Computers' first RISC processor was used in the original Acorn Archimedes and was one of the first RISC processors used in small computers. However, when the company was incorporated in 1990, what 'ARM' stood for changed to "Advanced RISC Machines". According to Steve Furber the name was changed at the behest of Apple, which did not wish to have the name of a competitor in the name of the company. At the time of the IPO in 1998, the company name was changed to "ARM Holdings", often just called ARM like the processors.
On 1 August 2017, the styling and logo were changed. The logo is now all lowercase ('arm') and other uses of the name are in sentence case ('Arm').
Founding The company was founded on 12 November 1990 as Widelogic Limited but this was rapidly changed, on 3 December 1990, to Advanced RISC Machines Limited and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple, and VLSI Technology. Acorn provided 12 employees, VLSI provided tools, Apple provided a US$3 million investment (equivalent to $ million in ). Larry Tesler, Apple VP was a key person and he helped recruit the first CEO at the joint venture, Robin Saxby. The new company intended to further the development of the Acorn RISC Machine processor, which was originally used in the Acorn Archimedes and had been selected by Apple for its Newton project. Its first profitable year was 1993. The company's Silicon Valley and Tokyo offices were opened in 1994. ARM invested in Palmchip Corporation in 1997 to provide system on chip platforms and to enter into the disk drive market. In 1998, the company changed its name from Advanced RISC Machines Ltd to ARM Ltd. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Nasdaq in 1998 and by February 1999, Apple's shareholding had fallen to 14.8 per cent.
In 2010, ARM joined with IBM, Texas Instruments, Samsung, ST-Ericsson (since dissolved) and Freescale Semiconductor (now NXP Semiconductors) in forming a non-profit open source engineering company, Linaro.
Acquisitions and divestments
1999 Micrologic Solutions, a software consulting company based in Cambridge 2000 Allant Software, a developer of debugging software Infinite Designs, a design company based in Sheffield EuroMIPS, a smart card design house in Sophia Antipolis, France 2001 The engineering team of Noral Micrologics, a debug hardware and software company based in Blackburn, England 2003 Adelante Technologies of Belgium, creating its OptimoDE data engines business, a form of lightweight DSP engine 2004 Axys Design Automation, a developer of ESL design tools and Artisan Components, a designer of physical IP (intellectual property: standard cell libraries, memory compilers, PHYs etc.), the building blocks of integrated circuits 2005 KEIL Software, a leading developer of software development tools for the microcontroller (MCU) market, including 8051 and C16x platforms. ARM also acquired the engineering team of PowerEscape. 2006 Falanx (now called ARM Norway), a developer of 3D graphics accelerators SOISIC, who specialise in developing silicon-on-insulator physical IP 2008 Logipard AB, a public Swedish company spun out of Anoto AB, specialising in graphics processors 2011 Obsidian Software Inc., a privately held company that creates processor verification products Prolific, a developer of automated layout optimisation software tools 2013 Internet of Things startup Sensinode Cadence's PANTA family of high-resolution display processor and scaling coprocessor IP cores (formerly developed in Evatronix)
Duolog Technologies, an electronic design automation company that developed a suite of tools that automate the process of IP configuration and IP integration
Wicentric, a Bluetooth Smart stack and profile provider Sunrise Micro Devices, a provider of sub-one volt Bluetooth radio intellectual property (IP) Offspark, a provider of IoT security software Carbon Design Systems, a provider of cycle-accurate virtual prototyping solutions On 19 November, ARM, alongside Cisco Systems, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and Princeton University, founded the OpenFog Consortium, to promote interests and development in fog computing. 2016 Apical, a provider of imaging and embedded computer vision IP products Allinea Software, a leading provider of software tools for HPC 2018 Treasure Data ($600 million acquisition), provides enterprise data management software for device-to-data IoT platform Stream Technologies, provided connectivity management platform and GSM connectivity 2019 WigWag, an IoT gateway and cloud platform business 2020 In July 2020, Arm announced plans to spin off Treasure Data, together with the other parts of its "IoT Services Group" business, into separate SoftBank-owned entities by the end of September 2020. 2025 August: Cadence Design Systems completed the acquisition of Arm Artisan Foundation IP, which ARM originally acquired from Artisan Components in 2004.
Reported approach for Cerebras Systems In May 2026, Bloomberg News reported that Arm Holdings and its majority owner, SoftBank Group, had made a preliminary approach to acquire the wafer-scale integrated circuit maker Cerebras Systems, in the weeks before Cerebras's planned initial public offering. According to the report, the approach was rebuffed.
Changes of ownership
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group made an agreed offer for ARM on 18 July 2016, subject to approval by ARM's shareholders, valuing the company at £23.4 billion (US$32 billion). The transaction was completed on 5 September 2016.
In 2017, a 25% stake of Arm was transferred to the SoftBank Vision Fund, which received investment from the Saudi sovereign fund.
Attempted acquisition by Nvidia and initial public offering American technology company Nvidia announced plans on 13 September 2020 to acquire ARM from SoftBank, pending regulatory approval, for a value of US$40 billion in stock and cash, which would have been the largest semiconductor acquisition to that date. SoftBank Group would acquire slightly less than a 10% stake in Nvidia, and ARM would maintain its headquarters in Cambridge. There was opposition to the deal, including national security concerns from the UK and competition concerns from fellow tech companies such as Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm, whose chips in use or on sale heavily rely on Arm's intellectual property. It was also being battled by Arm China, its subsidiary, a majority stake of which was held by Chinese investors. The acquisition was initially scheduled to conclude before the end of 2022 per the contract. However, the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the US Federal Trade Commission raised completion concerns focusing on Arm's role within Nvidia, while the UK government also raised concerns about national security. The merger attempt was eventually cancelled in February 2022 due to the aforementioned regulatory pressure and hurdles.
Arm filed for an IPO on 21 August 2023 on the Nasdaq, rather than the LSE. A few days earlier, SoftBank Group bought back the 25% stake from Vision Fund for around $16 billion, valuing Arm at over $64 billion. Arm went public on 14 September 2023 raising $4.87 billion at a $54.5 billion valuation, with SoftBank continuing to own roughly 90% of the company following the offering.
Dispute over Arm China leadership SoftBank Group sold more than half of Arm China in 2018 to a local consortium consisting of various parties including China Investment Corp. and the Silk Road Fund, effectively relinquishing majority ownership of its Chinese subsidiary to a group of investors with ties to the Chinese state. From 2020, discord between Arm and the effective owners of Arm China became visible after the British parent company unsuccessfully tried to oust the chief executive of the subsidiary, who, however, managed to retain his position. A prevailing view emerged that the matter would negatively affect the pending approval by the Chinese regulators of the SoftBank–Nvidia deal, as well as any public offering of Arm.
In September 2021, despite Arm's denial, reports stated that the chief executive of Arm China, whom the British parent had tried to dismiss, had publicly declared the "independence" of Arm China. In February 2022, Allen Wu, the CEO of Arm China, floated the idea of a public offering of the Chinese subsidiary in 2025.
On 29 April 2022, it was reported that the CEO and legal representative of Arm China had finally been replaced according to legally recognized filings. However, Allen Wu continued to dispute this. Subsequently, in 2023, key staff left to form their own chip design startup Borui Jingxin, which competes with Arm China, particularly for engineers.
Operations Unlike most traditional microprocessor suppliers, such as Intel, Freescale (the former semiconductor division of Motorola, now NXP Semiconductors) and Renesas (a former joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric), ARM only creates and licenses its technology as intellectual property (IP), rather than manufacturing and selling its own physical CPUs, GPUs, SoCs or microcontrollers. This model is similar to those of fellow British design houses ARC International and Imagination Technologies, which have similarly been designing and licensing GPUs, CPUs, and SoCs, along with supplying tooling and various design and support services to its licensees.
Technology