SoftBank is considering selling off Arm Holdings, or taking the chip designer public.
Arm designs the chips used in a wide array of phones and tablets, including Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Apple recently announced it would transition the Mac from Intel to its own custom silicon, based on ARM chips.
While Arm Holdings was originally a joint venture between Apple, Acorn and VLSI Technology, the company eventually went public before being acquired by SoftBank in 2016 for $32 billion. SoftBank has had its own share of troubles lately, exemplified by the WeWork debacle. As a result, according to CNET, the company is looking at a sale or IPO of Arm.
At this point, nothing is certain, and SoftBank may not even proceed with any plans. Should it move forward with a sale, however, Apple would certainly have the resources and the motivation to buy the company, as its entire hardware lineup is about to be tied with Arm’s future.