Chip designer Arm’s shares soar 20%

NEW YORK CITY: British chip designer Arm saw its share price jump 20 percent on the first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York on Thursday.

Arm, whose semiconductor design is used in most smartphones worldwide, announced earlier this week that it was targeting a valuation of more than $52 billion for its initial public offering (IPO).

Its shares opened up 10 percent and continued climbing in early trading, at one point rising 20 percent before settling up closer to 17 percent.

Arm’s high share price in early trading underscored enthusiasm for tech firms amid elevated interest in artificial intelligence.

If Arm’s shares close anywhere near its current share price at the end of the first day of trading, it will be valued at closer to $60 billion.

The company, which is a world leader in smartphone chip design, is owned by the Japanese tech investor SoftBank, which has had a mixed record of success with its investments in recent years.

The IPO of around 10 percent of the company’s shares is expected to raise around $5 billion for SoftBank, which will retain ownership of the remaining 90 percent of the company’s shares.

“I want to keep as much as possible as long as possible,” SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son told CNBC on Thursday.

“I’m a long-term believer,” he added.

Traders are looking at Arm’s IPO as a barometer for other tech IPOs, which have stalled in recent years as the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and higher interest rates lowered the appetite for riskier investments.

If Arm’s IPO does well, other companies may consider going public to raise funds, fueling fresh deal-making in the months ahead.