SoftBank Group Corp.’s semiconductor unit Arm Ltd. is targeting an initial public offering at a valuation of between $60 billion and $70 billion as soon as September, a sign of bullish interest in artificial-intelligence chips, according to people familiar with the matter.
The roadshow is scheduled to start the first week of September with pricing for the IPO the following week, said one of the people, asking not to be named because the talks are private. The latest target for Arm’s valuation underscores a shift in market mood in favor of technologies linked to generative AI and chips. Earlier this year, bankers were pitching a range of valuations for the chip designer from $30 billion to $70 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.
SoftBank, led by Masayoshi Son, and Arm Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas long considered the bottom of that range too low. Arm executives may still be gunning for a valuation of as high as $80 billion, but the odds of achieving such a target are uncertain, one of the people said.
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